In this special edition of Gerōn magazine, authors from several European countries shed light on aspects of the State of the Art of Ageing. We emphasize the words ‘aspects of’, because we realize that the articles in this edition reflect only a fragm…

For the European citizen, Europe is increasingly linked to the word crisis. From Greece to the boycott of Russia, from the climate to more refugees pouring in. The current generation of older people was the cradle of Europe or, rathe

The population in Europe is ageing! This has been going on for a number of decades, but has accelerated because of the generation of baby boomers which is leaving the labour market. Furthermore, within the ageing population we see an

Which were the results of the European Year 2012? Did it make older people more visible in EU policy?

Wide across the Western world, people are living longer lives and having fewer children. This has led to larger shares of elderly voters, who, many fear, are becoming an immensely powerful political pressure group. But what are the e

The European Union uses several indicators to assess the risk of poverty and social exclusion. This article will show, by means of the two most relevant indicators, how the risk of poverty and social exclusion among older people is d

What do we know about the employment participation of older workers in Europe? A European research project studied the gaps in knowledge and identified domains for further research in the field of employment participation at higher w

Anyone who is involved in health care can access the national TOPICS-MDS database for data on vulnerable older people and family caregivers. This database contains details on all of the participants to the NPO projects. “This is a un

Older people play an important role in the social participation in our society. However, are these mainly the healthy and active older people that remain active or also those older people with health problems? To what extent does hea

People at an advanced age are seldom asked to share their knowledge, skills and life experience. This conflicts with a strong need of the older generation to participate and play a significant role within their own community in later

We live in a time in which we daily face the dictates of the ‘cult of youth’, focused on perpetual rejuvenation and always seductive youthfulness. This is also reflected on the theatre stages throughout Europe. On the other hand mode

Finland is one of the leading countries in thorough scientific ageing research. Several universities and research institutes in Finland have been conducting large population-based longitudinal studies for decades, investigating espec

GfK-Austria, a market research institute, has investigated how content Austrians are with their life, which is defined as the ‘individual perception of the quality of life’.

In contrast to several other European countries, Spain was not an ‘old’ country until quite recently. In 1970, people over 65 years of age or older represented 11% of the population. This percentage increased to 18.2% in 2014 and if

In Germany the older generation is growing faster than in the Netherlands. There are more ageing people and they live longer. Older people in Germany have a longstanding tradition of remaining at home as long as possible. There are n

This article focusses on two aspects of familial solidarity in Flanders, especially the duty of care of children towards their parents and care patterns between children and their parents/in-laws. We will consider differences in duty

Migrant workers who are hired by private households play an increasingly important role in long-term care in Italy. This article discusses the ins and outs.

Recent reforms in Dutch long-term care have brought about a transition from publicly financed care to unpaid care. This means that older people in the Netherlands have a greater responsibility to try and arrange care themselves or wi

Addressing challenges in long-term care will require a comprehensive approach covering both policies for informal carers as well as policies addressing the formal provision of long-term care services and its financing.

Rights of older people in long-term care situations are sometimes violated, which might lead to elder abuse. WeDO 2 , a European project concerned wit