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Direct Link to Full 149-Page 2012 Report:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-EP-11-001/EN/KS-EP-11-001-EN.PDF

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Europe - Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations2012 edition

A Statistical Portrait of the European Union 2012

Women tend to live longer than men. As a result, the ratio of women compared with men increased from 1.1 for those aged 50 to 64, to 1.2 among those aged 65 to 79, before reaching 1.9 for the very old (those aged 80 or more). There were 12 countries where the number of very

old women was at least twice as high as the number of very old men, this ratio rising to around three times as many very old women as very old men in the Baltic Member States.

 

There was a considerable increase in the proportion of persons aged 65 or over during the 20 year period from 1990 to 2010 (see Figure 1.1). Within the EU27, the share of persons aged 65 or over in the total population rose by 3.7 percentage points during the period under consideration to reach 17.4 %. There was particularly rapid growth in Slovenia, Germany, Italy, the Baltic Member States and Greece, as the share of those aged 65 or over in the total population increased by at least five percentage points. At the other end of the range, the share of this group of the population rose by less than one percentage point in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Sweden, while Ireland was the only Member State to report a falling share of persons aged 65 or over in the total population (albeit by just 0.1 percentage points).

 

Although there were far more elderly women than men, Figure 1.2 shows that the number of elderly men was growing at a faster pace during the period from 1990 to 2010 – and as such some of the gender difference was redressed.

 

The parent support ratio (defined as the number of persons aged 85 or over per 100 persons aged 50 to 64 years old) may be used to assess the demands on families to provide support for their eldest members. Indeed, it will become increasingly common for people in their fifties and sixties to have surviving parents. This ratio stood at 11.0 for the EU27 on 1 January 2010, peaking in Sweden, Italy and France (all at least 13.0).

 

SEE FUL REPORT - Figure 1.2: Proportion of women among the population, various age groups, EU27  (%)