Social Exclusion of the Elderly: A Comparative Study of EU Member States. ENEPRI Research Reports No. 57, 2 September 2008

Jehoel-Gijsbers, Gerda. and Vrooman, Cok. (2008) Social Exclusion of the Elderly: A Comparative Study of EU Member States. ENEPRI Research Reports No. 57, 2 September 2008.

Abstract

Combating social exclusion is one of the key objectives of pension systems. This report focuses on social exclusion among the elderly (defined as the 55+ age group) in the EU’s member states. Social exclusion has been conceptualised as a state of individuals in relation to four dimensions. Two of these dimensions – material deprivation and social rights – are of a structural nature. The other two – social participation and normative integration – pertain to social settings and subcultural factors. Theoretically and empirically, the dimensions refer to one latent underlying social exclusion variable. The original method for measuring social exclusion was devised and tested for the Netherlands, making use of a dedicated dataset. In this study, the measuring instrument has been extended to EU member states, performing secondary analyses of various surveys.