Population ageing in Central and Eastern Europe and its demographic and social context

Abstract

The article focuses on several demographic and socio-economic idiosyncrasies in Central and Eastern Europe, which impact the process of population ageing and intergenerational relations. These include the adverse mortality trends and especially the excess male mortality in certain countries, which exacerbated sex differences in life expectancy beyond anything ever recorded in peace-time population history, the combination of natural population decrease and net emigration, the disordered cohort flows and the shorter generational length. The rapid demographic change in these countries coincided with political, economic and social transformations. The shock of the fall of communism affected differently younger people, who could relatively easily reorganize their life cycles so as to adapt to the changed circumstances, and older persons for whom such reorganization was more difficult, or even impossible. This created the possibility for the opening of an intergenerational rift, as older generations felt being the losers of the transition. The article explores the implications of these idiosyncrasies and social context for living arrangements, kin networks, individual wellbeing and inter-generational relations, and identifies areas where particular challenges are likely to be faced when it comes to policies and programs aimed at older persons.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe; Disordered cohort flows; Excess male mortality; Inter-generational relations; Living arrangements; Population ageing; Subjective wellbeing.

Fig. 1

Changes in life expectancy at birth in selected countries, 1965–2005. Source Human Mortality Database (accessed 9 Nov 2011)

Fig. 2

Median age and percent of the population age 65 and over in European countries, 2005. Source United Nations (2011)

Fig. 3

Countries by contribution of natural increase and net migration to population growth, 2000–2005. Source United Nations (2011)

Fig. 4

Age pyramids for Romania and the Russian Federation (as of 1 Jan 2010). Source EuroStat online database

Fig. 5

Child versus old-age poverty in the EU member States, 2001 and 2009. Source EuroStat, on-line database (data accessed 29 April 2011)

Fig. 6

Mean age at childbearing in the European countries, 1990–2010. Source EuroStat online database; demoscope database