Social Inequality and Wellbeing in Old Age. Results from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

Christian Deindl, University of Cologne
Martina Brandt, Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

It is well known, that sufficient financial resources influence individual wellbeing positively. But what if these resources diminish in old age? As most pension systems face great pressure, it is the question how the financial redistribution between young and old will be (re-) organized in future and how this may affect the wellbeing of retirees. The second wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) includes societies on different stages of population ageing and with different pension systems. This allows us to assess the influences of financial resources on wellbeing under very different societal circumstances. We will examine the financial resources of people 65+ in 13 different European countries and welfare regimes, and examine the interrelation between social inequalities and personal wellbeing in old age. Apart from these individual level correlations the influence of different welfare state characteristics will be taken into account.