The Dividends of Ageing: Projections of Older Persons Unpaid Productive Activities in Europe

Tom Emery, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

This paper considers whether population ageing will lead to an increase in a number of societal contributions that are common amongst older persons and whether such an increase would be attributable to an increasing number of older persons or improvements in health, wealth and income. To achieve this, data from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe are used to provide age profiles for four types of behaviour identified by the UNECE active ageing index: childcare for grandchildren, volunteering, political participation and care for older people. These age profiles are then combined with population projections to provide estimates for 2010-2030.The results suggest that whilst there is anticipated to be a considerable increase in the number of persons over 50 engaging in these four activities by 2030, this growth is largely attributable to increases in the number of people over 50, rather than the projected improvements in health, wealth and income.