Ageing of population and changes in the standard of living. Comparative study of the processes in chosen Western and Eastern European Countries

Jolanta Kurkiewicz, Cracow University
Ewa Soja, Cracow University
Marcin Stonawski, Cracow University

The aim of the paper is to assess changes in the standard of living as the result of ageing in chosen European countries and to compare activity profiles on the labour market with proposed benchmarks. The question arises how an increase of dependent population and a decrease of working population influence consumption opportunities. For this purpose, we use support ratio and its modifications (e.g.Cutler 1990, Prskawetz and Fent 2004) which allow to assess consequences of demographic shifts on standard of living. Two scenarios are prepared: (1) labour variables and earnings are stable, (2) activity profiles by age and sex of the countries shift to the benchmark. Main results: (1) evaluation of differences on the labour mobility in Western and Eastern Europe and possibilities of elderly participation on the labour market in the future, (2) classification European countries according to the impact of ageing on changes of living standard.