فقر و انتقال در سلامت در زندگی آینده

Using a sample of Europeans aged 50+ from 12 countries in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we analyse the role of poor material conditions as a determinant of changes in health over a four- to five-year period. We find that poverty defined with respect to relative income has no effect on changes in health. However, broader measures of poor material conditions, such as subjective poverty or low wealth, significantly increase the probability of transition to poor health among the healthy and reduce the chance of recovery from poor health over the time interval analysed. In addition to this, the subjective measure of poverty has a significant effect on mortality, increasing it by 65% among men and by 68% among those aged 50–64. Material conditions affect health among older people. We suggest that if attempts to reduce poverty in later life and corresponding policy targets are to focus on the relevant measures, they should take into account broader definitions of poverty than those based only on relative incomes.

In the developed world, demographic trends have made poverty in later life a central concern for policymakers. This population ageing is accompanied by worries about the financial sustainability of pension systems and systems of old-age income support. Ensuring the current and future stability of these systems comes at the cost of inability to guarantee adequate pensions and material safety nets for all individuals. Thus, changing population structures are increasingly exacerbating the trade-off between current income and future pension provisions (OECD, 1998 and European Commission, 2012). Naturally, in most discussions of poverty, improving individuals' material circumstances is not only an objective on its own but also a way to improve the quality of life. Health is clearly one of the most important aspects of quality of life in general, and is particularly crucial for policies related to ageing. Better health implies direct improvements in older people's welfare and also translates into potential savings on health expenditure, the size of which will grow as the proportion of older people increases in the coming decades.