International audience ; Among different important issues, which are discussed in Political Demography theissue of global ageing becomes more and more pressing every year. It is sufficient to takeinto account the point that within two forthcoming decades a rapid global increase in thenumber of retirement-age persons will lead to its doubling within this fairly small historicalperiod. The concerns about population ageing apply to both developed and many developingcountries and it has turned into a global issue. In forthcoming decades the populationageing is likely to become one of the most important processes determining the future societycharacteristics and the direction of technological development.The present volume of the Yearbook (which is the fifth in the series) is subtitled 'PoliticalDemography & Global Ageing'. It brings together a number of interesting articlesby scholars from Europe, Asia, and America. They examine global ageing from a varietyof perspectives.This issue of the Yearbook consists of two main sections: (I) Aspects of PoliticalDemography; (II) Facing Population Ageing.We hope that this issue will be interesting and useful both for historians and mathematicians,as well as for all those dealing with various social and natural sciences.
Populations around the world are ageing faster than ever in the past. A constant and already impressive rate in the worldwide increase of life expectancy has led to the fact that the current proportion of the population above 60 years (17%) will double in the next thirty to forty years. In the next 30 years, every third person in the world will fall into the category of a senior citizen. Tis demographic transition will have an impact on almost all aspects of society and requires a complete and well-defned shif in the paradigm in the medical, social, and technological felds. Croatia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020 highlighted demographic challenges and ageing as important issues. Under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme Health, demographic change and wellbeing 2018–2020 call 10 within the section "Other actions", a conference Better Future of Healthy Ageing 2020 (BFHA 2020) took place as a part of "Croatian Presidency event – Innovation for better ageing", organized by the University of Zagreb School of Medicine at the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health.
Living systems are subject to the arrow of time; from birth, they undergo complex transformations (self-organization) in a constant battle for survival, but inevitably ageing and disease trap them to death. Can ageing be understood and eventually reversed? What tools can be employed to further our understanding of ageing? The present article is an invitation for biologists and clinicians to consider key conceptual ideas and computational tools (known to mathematicians and physicists), which potentially may help dissect some of the underlying processes of ageing and disease. Specifically, we first discuss how to classify and analyse complex systems, as well as highlight critical theoretical difficulties that make complex systems hard to study. Subsequently, we introduce Topological Data Analysis - a novel Big Data tool – which may help in the study of complex systems since it extracts knowledge from data in a holistic approach via topological considerations. These conceptual ideas and tools are discussed in a relatively informal way to pave future discussions and collaborations between mathematicians and biologists studying ageing. ; Basque Government under the grant "Artificial Intelligence in BCAM number EXP. 2019/00432" Inria associated team "NeuroTransSF"
The proportion of Australia's population in older age groups continues to increase. To respond to this phenomenon, the Australian Government has reiterated a commitment to a healthy ageing Australia. The National Strategy for an Ageing Australia provides a framework for national response to the challenges and opportunities that an older Australia presents. Healthy ageing is one of the four areas identified in the Strategy that affect population ageing well. Healthy ageing is defined as the development and maintenance of optimal physical, social and mental wellbeing for Australian people throughout their lives. To achieve the goal of healthy ageing, the Australian Aged Care Reform Package 2012 aims at providing $955.4 million over five years in its spent to help older people to stay at home, namely, ageing in place (AiP). AiP as a philosophy of care means older people are supported to remain in the same environment as their care needs increase. Employing a qualitative approach, this research explores the impact of climate change on AiP in northern Queensland. Three senior families from different cultural backgrounds—Anglo Australian, Indigenous Australian and Forced Migrant Australian each—took part in the research. The participants reported that they were vulnerable to heat wave and natural disasters such as cyclones. Compared to older people in general population, Indigenous and forced migrant participants reported higher levels of vulnerability to heat wave and natural disasters due to their lower social economic status and less access to aged care services. This research suggests that it is important to include indigenous and migrant populations and their perspectives in discussion of climate change and its impact on aged care, for reasons of equity and justice and ensuring effectiveness of relevant policies.
Active ageing has been discussed in international political organisations and among researchers as a major means for combatting the challenges of demographic ageing. This study aims to make a critical-theoretical and empirical assessment of the active ageing concept, challenging the active ageing discourse from two different angles. First, an assessment of the theoretical framework of active ageing shows that the conceptual framework is undertheorised, lacks conceptual and analytical clarity, and fails to propose clear contributing factors and barriers. The second part presents an empirical analysis of the concept of active ageing guided by the following research question: is active ageing realistic—and for whom? Using Danish data subjected to multiple correspondence analysis, it is found that active ageing at the individual level is preconditioned by health, education, having good finances, etc. Furthermore, a Matthew effect of accumulated advantage is found ; that is, older adults who are blessed in one sphere of life are also blessed in others, and such inequalities in old age are the outcomes of social life biographies (i.e., cumulative advantages/disadvantages over the life course). Thus, empirical findings indicate that active ageing may be an elusive goal for a large segment of older adults.
The year 2012 is designated as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. The aim of the year is to raise awareness of the position of older people in a manner where they can enjoy a better quality of life and still play an active role in society. There are good reasons for designating 2012 as such a year.The OECD has estimated that by the year 2050, more than 33% of men and 38% of women in the EU25 will be 60 years or older compared with 18% and 24%, respectively, for the year 2000. The European Statistical Office projects that by 2060, there will be only two people of working age (15–64) in the EU for every person aged over 65, compared with a ratio of 4 to 1 today. Keeping in mind that an increasing share of the youth between 15 and 30 are studying, the consequences of these figures are even more challenging.Many politicians are seriously concerned about financing of the pensions and welfare systems. Another concern is how to allocate sufficient healthcare personnel to give the ageing population a decent service. These challenges are good reasons for the EU to include "solidarity between generations" as an element in the activity of this year.This special issue on active ageing is a contribution from the Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies to the year of active ageing. The articles examine work and ageing from different angles and horizons of understanding. Together, the articles question some of the myths that exist on ageing and work and assess some of the actions being taken to keep older workers in employment. This issue is therefore an important contribution to the development of our understanding of active ageing and measures used to develop an active ageing policy (.)
Ensuring active ageing, i.e. the optimisation of opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age, is an important growth strategy for the EU. Achieving a successful active ageing policy will require a sea change in thinking about what ageing means in both economic and social terms.
In March 2004, the author attended the Inaugural International Conference on Longevity at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. As a cultural researcher interested in the interactions between demographic shifts, capitalist globalisation and changing forms of political power, the prospect of a direct encounter with the debates and practices surrounding the burgeoning field of anti-ageing medicine promised a means to observe the complex cultural dynamics of population ageing at play. This article explores the discord the atuhor witnessed; a quarrel that, despite the march of technological advance, attests the ongoing conflict in the nexus where politics meets life.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in The Routledge Handbook of Critical Social Work on 18th January 2019, available online: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Critical-Social-Work-1st-Edition/Webb/p/book/9781138578432 ; This chapter examines some ethical and political challenges generated by the increasingly complex needs of an ageing society upon social work. It concentrates on the UK as a case study and critically evaluates related age-graded policies and practices relating to social work and care. The chapter includes a discussion of the on-going ethical tensions between social diversity within an ageing society and the shrinking of formal care provision.
Age structure of a population, representing the final result of all the demographic processes, tells a unique story which incorporates not only the main demographic components, but also its history, cultural and political characteristics of the population. Through its history the Balkan Peninsula has been alluring to all kinds of demographic research. The process of aging, which is intensifying in all developed countries, will increasingly be the main focus of future demographic research. Although there is undeniable general shift in the age structure, there are many regional differences in the Balkan Peninsula. Thus, for the purpose of this paper we created a choropleth map of the Balkans showing the age structure at NUTS 3 regional level. For the purposes of this paper borders of the Balkan Peninsula are defined by Jovan Cvijić in his homonymous work. Toward a more complete understanding of the ageing phenomena in the Balkans we conducted an analysis of regionalization of ageing, to serve as a backbone for the analysis of age structure at the national level. We compare ageing borders with ethnic, religious and political borders in the peninsula.
This volume-"Selected Contemporary Challenges of Aging Policy"-is the most international of all published monographs from the series "Czech-Polish-Slovak Studies in Andragogy and Social Gerontology." Among the scholars trying to grasp the nuances and trends of social policy, there are diverse perspectives, resulting not only from the extensive knowledge of the authors on the systematic approach to the issue of supporting older people but also from the grounds of the represented social gerontology schools. In the texts of Volume VII interesting are both distinct and coherent elements presenting the role of local, regional and global policies in the prism of the countries from which the authors originate: the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, and the United States. The chapters show a wealth of methodological approaches to the perception of social policy and its tools. In the texts there are issues related to the idea of active ageing, discrimination against older people in the workplace, comparability of solutions friendly to employment of older adults in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia as well as focused on the importance of educational forms (universities of the third age, senior clubs, folk high schools, and other non-formal solutions) determining an active life in old age. This monograph also attempted to answer the question regarding how to transfer the idea of intergenerational learning into the realm of practice. This issue complements the chapter on the implementation of intergenerational programs in institutions providing long-term care support. The book also outlines a public policy on ageing in the perspective of the changes over the last few decades (Slovenia) and the case demonstrating solutions to accelerate self-reliance as a key to active ageing (Turkey). We hope that seventh volume of our series will be an intellectual stimulus for further international research on change in social policy and will contribute to the dissemination of best ...
Among different important issues, which are discussed in Political Demography the issue of global ageing becomes more and more pressing every year. It is sufficient to take into account the point that within two forthcoming decades a rapid global increase in the number of retirement-age persons will lead to its doubling within this fairly small historical period. The concerns about population ageing apply to both developed and many developing countries and it has turned into a global issue. In forthcoming decades the population ageing is likely to become one of the most important processes determining the future society characteristics and the direction of technological development. The present volume of the Yearbook (which is the fifth in the series) is subtitled 'Political Demography & Global Ageing'. It brings together a number of interesting articles by scholars from Europe, Asia, and America. They examine global ageing from a variety of perspectives. This issue of the Yearbook consists of two main sections: (I) Aspects of Political Demography; (II) Facing Population Ageing. We hope that this issue will be interesting and useful both for historians and mathematicians, as well as for all those dealing with various social and natural sciences.
The proliferation of digital technology has brought about rapid social and economic change, the consequences of which have not been evenly distributed. Older people, in particular, tend to be less engaged with digital technology and as a result, are said to be at risk of 'digital exclusion'. In this paper, we explore how digital technology is discursively linked to ageing and social and economic participation. The analysis is based on 38 interviews with representatives of industry, government and civil society asked to share their views of the opportunities and risks associated with age and participation in the context of rapid developments in digital technology. Using discourse analysis we identify two competing ways interview participants made connections between digital technology and its perceived effects on the economic and social participation of an ageing population. In the first, digital technology drives human progress as a 'fix' to some of the social and economic challenges associated with ageing but also demands a cautious approach to minimise unforeseen negative consequences. In the second, digital technology is a tool, whose development can be driven by humans in order to solve a range of problems, including economic and social participation in later life. We consider the implications of these two discourses, discussing the potential of each for achieving a sense of empowerment in the ageing community and addressing the challenge of lifelong participation.
The Active Ageing Index (AAI) can be applied across countries to compare active aging outcomes, evaluate the current situation regarding ageing, and identify the most desired directions for policy action. While the AAI-EU is addressed on a national level, it can also be used for assessing active ageing policies on the municipal level, which is the case in this study. The aim of this article was to assess active ageing amongst older people in western parts of Finland by adapting the methodology used for the AAI-EU. We used GERDA data (n=5,011) collected from people aged 66, 71, 76, 81 and 86 for our descriptive analyses. The results showed that the municipalities differed in their active ageing outcomes, and that men and Swedish speakers generally scored higher on the index, which is something that warrants further investigation. Based on the results, we argue that AAI could potentially be used as a tool to monitor various dimensions of active ageing on a regional level and that gender and ethno-linguistic characteristics should be a central concern for a discussion on ageing in our study region. ; Aktiivisen ikääntymisen indeksiä (AAI) voidaan soveltaa kaikissa maissa aktiivisen ikääntymisen tulosten vertailemiseksi, ikääntymisen nykytilan arvioimiseksi sekä politiikkatoimien tavoitteiden tunnistamiseksi. Vaikka AAI-EU on suunnattu kansalliselle tasolle, sitä voidaan käyttää myös aktiivisen ikääntymisen politiikan tarkasteluun kuntatasolla, kuten tässä tutkimuksessa. Tämän artikkelin tarkoituksena oli arvioida aktiivista ikääntymistä Länsi-Suomessa AAI-EU:n avulla. Kuvailevassa analyysissä käytimme 66-, 71-, 76-, 81- ja 86-vuotiailta kerättyä GERDA-aineistoa (n = 5011). Tutkimuksemme osoitti, että aktiivisen ikääntymisen tulokset eroavat kuntatasolla ja että miehet ja ruotsinkieliset sijoittuivat indeksissä yleisesti korkeammalle, mikä kaipaa lisätutkimusta. Tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että AAI on soveltuva työkalu aktiivisen ikääntymisen seurannassa alueellisella tasolla ja että sukupuolen sekä kieliryhmien ominaispiirteet tulisi huomioida ikäntymistä koskevassa keskustelussa tutkimusalueellamme. ; Ett index för det aktiva åldrandet (AAI) används för att jämföra hur olika länder hanterar en åldrande befolkning och lyfter fram var behoven för olika policyinsatser är som störst. Emedan AAI-EU används för att jämföra situationen i europeiska länder, så kan indexet även användas för att jämföra kommuner, vilket är något som vi gjorde i den här studien. Syftet med studien var således att undersöka det aktiva åldrandet bland äldre i västra Finland genom att använda metodologin som använts för AAI-EU. Vi använde GERDA-data (n=5011) insamlat bland 66-, 71-, 76-, 81-, och 86-åringar för våra deskriptiva analyser. Resultaten visade att det fanns skillnader i det aktiva åldrandet mellan kommunerna. Resultaten visade även att fanns skillnader mellan svensk- och finskspråkiga så att svenskspråkiga placerade sig högre på indexet. Baserat på resultaten från studien så konkluderar vi att ett regionalt AAI kunde användas för att följa upp det aktiva åldrandet på kommunnivå och att skillnader mellan män och kvinnor samt skillnader mellan etnolingvistiska grupper borde lyftas fram i diskussioner om det aktiva åldrandet i vår region.
This volume-"Selected Contemporary Challenges of Aging Policy"-is the most international of all published monographs from the series "Czech-Polish-Slovak Studies in Andragogy and Social Gerontology." Among the scholars trying to grasp the nuances and trends of social policy, there are diverse perspectives, resulting not only from the extensive knowledge of the authors on the systematic approach to the issue of supporting older people but also from the grounds of the represented social gerontology schools. In the texts of Volume VII interesting are both distinct and coherent elements presenting the role of local, regional and global policies in the prism of the countries from which the authors originate: the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, and the United States.The chapters show a wealth of methodological approaches to the perception of social policy and its tools. In the texts there are issues related to the idea of active ageing, discrimination against older people in the workplace, comparability of solutions friendly to employment of older adults in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia as well as focused on the importance of educational forms (universities of the third age, senior clubs, folk high schools, and other non-formal solutions) determining an active life in old age.This monograph also attempted to answer the question regarding how to transfer the idea of intergenerational learning into the realm of practice. This issue complements the chapter on the implementation of intergenerational programs in institutions providing long-term care support. The book also outlines a public policy on ageing in the perspective of the changes over the last few decades (Slovenia) and the case demonstrating solutions to accelerate self-reliance as a key to active ageing (Turkey).We hope that seventh volume of our series will be an intellectual stimulus for further international research on change in social policy and will contribute to the dissemination of best practices as well as contribute to positive social change.
