The challenges of ageing

DEMO

The ageing of the population of Western countries is characterized by an increasing growth rate of population aged 65 years and over, an increasing life expectancy after that age and an ageing population of working age. This demographic context sparks debate and research to better identify and characterize the issues facing these societies. This growth raises many questions: economic (financing of pensions, employment rates of the oldest among the working population...); social (transition to retirement, isolation of the elderly, home support services, support for family care takers...); health (problems of functional and cognitive limitations in old age...) and spatial planning and segregation (places of residence of the elderly, spatial imbalances in the distribution of the elderly population...). Finally, even if Western countries are currently the most concerned by population ageing, countries in the Global South will also face this situation in the near future. In countries where protection systems are absent or deficient, family solidarity traditionally compensates for these deficiencies. But here too they can be put to the test due to the migration of the youngest and urbanization. These different subjects are at the heart of the research conducted on ageing in DEMO. Recent work has focused on demographic ageing in Belgium and Europe, the historical analysis of the Belgian pension system, the transformations of life courses after 60 years, the spatial analysis of the supply of services and the needs of elderly people, the care of dependent elderly people...

Person in charge: Catherine Gourbin