Meeting needs and social services among the Spanish elderly, does region matter? Spatial patterns in the responsiveness to changing demographics and needs

Maria Dolores Puga, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

The aim of this paper is to "explain" the formal social service coverage in Spain. The following research questions are raised: how services meet the needs of older people -are there many who need help but do not get it?- and does that vary from one region to another? We use Spain as an example to describe and analyse regional variation in services and care for elderly people. The decision-making process for these services lies with the regional autonomous governments. A strong regional autonomy in combination with increased decentralisation, can lead to large variations in the distribution of social services, which has turned out to be the case within care of the elderly in Spain. Cross-national individual data, regionally representative, are analysed to map out the variations in old-age care, to study compensating factors in the care system, and to explore the connection with regional demographic and socioeconomic conditions.