Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Elderly Population in Romania

Europe is currently facing the highest ageing rate worldwide. Romania, a EU-member country since 2007 has to cope with its own demographic difficulties, e.g. an overall population decline, an increased proportion of elderly and a longer average life-span, a majority of female elderly, etc. The ageing process had a progressive course, which began in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the countryside, where certain settlements appeared to be at greater demographic risk. The situation had also significant socio-economic implications. In 2012, people aged 60 and over represented 22% of Romania’s population, with 25.5% living in the village and 19% in town. According to forecasts, the nest few decades will witness a rapid and massive growth of elderly people, from 4.5 million in 2012 to 6.5 million in 2050. As the elderly category, mostly retired and inactive, puts greater pressure on the active adults, social and economic problems become ever more acute, given that the existing pensions system cannot adequately sustain the older population; besides, neither is the health-care system ready to meet the increasing demands of this ever larger category. It follows that Romania should take the necessary steps now and start adjusting to these issues in order to avoid the risk of endemic poverty among elderly people. In view of it, a coherent medium-and-long-term development programme should be elaborated, capable to rebalance the demographic structure and solve many of the problems associated to ageing.The present study takes an in-depth look at all these issues and highlights regional disparities.