Poverty Among Older People and Pensions Policy in the EU (Public Policy and Social Welfare)

Based on research work financed by the European Commission, under their programme of Community Action to Combat Social Exclusion, this book offers a comprehensive picture of the present state of later-life poverty across the 25 member states of the European Union.In Part 1, the authors analyse poverty risks faced by older people, discussing how such risk ought to be measured, reviewing the European data-sets that are currently available and pointing to their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of income-based measures of the risk of poverty they report that as many as 13 million older people were at risk of poverty in 2003, amounting to one-in-six elderly people living in private households.In part 2, they analyse the possible impact of recent pensions reforms on retirment incomes of future generations of older people. They provide a detailed description of the reforms that have recently been implemented, assessing their effects on particular groups such as women and lower income earners. Their analysis shows that there are many countries projecting a decline in the relative public pension benefit generosity and in some cases the magnitude of the decline is quite worrying.This book will be essential reading for national and international research centres on pensions and related issues, for governments and for international organizations. It will also be of great interest to graduate students and academics in social policy related disciplines both in the EU and outside, since the book contains valuable comparative material.