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Age Discrimination of Senior Citizens in European Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Agnes Santha

    (Department of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences Targu Mures, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, 540485 Targu Mures, Romania)

  • Emese Emőke Tóth-Batizán

    (Department of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences Targu Mures, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, 540485 Targu Mures, Romania)

Abstract

This paper addresses perceived age discrimination of older persons in European countries. This disturbing issue has become all the more prominent, having doubled over a relatively short period between 2018 and 2021. Strongly associated with bad health outcomes, low levels of wellbeing, and considerable social tensions, age-related discrimination against senior citizens is a sign of the lack of their social integration. Our study used secondary data analysis based on survey methodology. Statistical analysis was performed on data from the European Social Survey wave 10 (2021) subsample of people aged 65 and above to assess the senior population’s age-based discrimination experiences and its individual and macro-level determinants. The results indicate that in all European countries, low socioeconomic status, older age, and living alone are strongly associated with the experience of age discrimination. Having bad health and being functionally limited in everyday activities results in a state of dependency that is connected to a higher risk of perceived exposure to age discrimination. Smaller populations, such as those in villages, are protective against discrimination at older age. Finally, compared to other welfare regimes, in social democratic welfare states with egalitarian redistribution systems and high levels of social benefits, there is a significantly larger share of old people who reported to have been victims of age discrimination. Our results have implications for policy in the context of ageing societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnes Santha & Emese Emőke Tóth-Batizán, 2024. "Age Discrimination of Senior Citizens in European Countries," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:10:p:198-:d:1493285
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yvan Barel & Sandrine Frémeaux & Camilla Quental, 2013. "Ageism towards young and elderly people: lessons from the Nordic diversity model," Post-Print hal-00917024, HAL.
    2. Klaus Rothermund & Verena Klusmann & Hannes Zacher & Alexandra M Freund, 2021. "Age Discrimination in the Context of Motivation and Healthy Aging," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(Supplemen), pages 167-180.
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