Active or Passive Ageing?
[17-19 September 2003 - Iiris Niemi - The IATUR Conference on Time Use Research Comparing Time] Baby-boomers are approaching retirement age. In Finland this change occurs earlier than in most other European countries. This is because in Finland the baby-boom generation peaked during the few post-war years between 1946 and 1950 while in most other countries this happened over a longer period from 1946 to 1965. Political leaders of the European Union launched the expression �active ageing� as a phrase mainly referring to policies designed to enable older people to remain in the labour force longer than nowadays. National strikes opposing the policy of delayed retirement reflect the deviating wishes of the general public. The purpose of this study is to analyse the daily life of elderly people during the years after retirement. Does time use reflect active or passive ageing? The data are based on European time use surveys, especially the Finnish one relating to 1999/2000. The preliminary results show that young pensioners allocate time quite differently from older ones. A society where the majority of retired people are aged under 75 enjoys the resources of active pensioners giving volunteer and informal help. Most young pensioners cope well with the daily life, taking care of themselves as well as of the people and organisations close to them. With increasing age and weakening health their daily life becomes more passive and the elderly become receivers of care services. From the point of the society this means that the social burden of the ageing society is postponed to later decades when the majority of the pensioners will have reached very old age. ...