This report focuses on several aspects of the social situation of elderly people, who for the purpose of this report are defined as the over-55s. According to this definition, there are currently around 3.6 million elderly people in the Netherlands. Their labour market position, financial circumstances, housing situation and health or use of healthcare facilities are recurrent topics in the Report on the Elderly (see section 2). In addition this report focuses on two aspects which generally do not receive very much attention in the Report of the Elderly: the social participation of elderly people (section 3) and the incidence and consequences of psychiatric complaints among the elderly (section 4). Finally, the report looks at a few aspects of the social situation of elderly people of ethnic origin (section 6). Unless stated otherwise, the data relate only to elderly people living independently. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting