Organiser : Marlène LAMY
Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Institut de démographie (FR)
The increase in life expectancy and the decrease in fertility simultaneously lead to population ageing. The baby-boom cohorts are about to retire and the active population belongs to the cohorts affected by the decrease in fertility. As a consequence, the portion of retired people will increase while the portion of active people will decrease. Decline of mortality at older ages is accompanied by a longer life expectancy in good health. However, as the baby boom cohorts become older, Europe will have to deal with the significant increase in the number of handicapped persons or persons suffering from degenerative diseases. Population ageing poses the problem of how to finance retirement pensions and spending related to the dependence of the elderly, and also those of the number of active people needed to ensure economic activity. At the family level, increased life expectancy has altered relations between generations.
The purpose of the presentation session was to take stock of the situation. All countries did not make the same decisions when they reformed their pensions schemes: some increased retirement age, others increased contributions, some adopted mixed solutions. Activity rates among elderly are very heterogeneous. Some countries currently have low activity rates for people over 50. Will the supply of workers easily fit the demand for labour? At retirement age, handicap free life expectancies differ from one country to the next. What care policies are being implemented for dependent persons? Have countries already taken measures to face the increasing number of very old people. Do they plan some adjustments?
Active people will have to work longer. However, as they retire in better health than in the past, and with a higher life expectancy, they will also have to organise their new activities. The first round table addressed, on the one hand, the adaptations needed to accommodate the lengthening of the active life span (anti- age discrimination, life-long training, working conditions) and, on the other hand, leisure and volunteer activities in the schedules of retirees.
Increased life expectancy has altered family structures. Sexagenarians, who once only used to be grandparents must now care for their own ageing parents. The second round table shed light on this new situation and focused on the shift, in terms of family position, that comes with increased life expectancy and the problems families encounter when caring for very handicapped persons. Will society easily integrate so many old persons? The round table dealt with social integration of the elderly and familial and neighbourhood solidarity.
The third round table first examined degenerative diseases and the significant increase in the number of handicapped persons and then looked at current care systems for the elderly and their costs. Indeed current support arrangements, whether provided by the family or in a collective environment, will have to be tailored to better meet increasing demand. Services (hospitals, sheltered housing, nursing homes or home care) must be diversified and additional funding sources will have to be found.