Demography and social economy, 2017, 3(31):113-123
doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/dse2017.03.113
UDC332.14 (477)
JEL CLASSIFICATION: І31

S.V. Polіakova
PhD (Economics), Leading Researcher
Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
01032, Ukraine, Kyiv, blvd. Taras Shevchenko, 60
E-mail: polyakova_@ukr.net

POVERTY OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN UKRAINE: BASIC TENDENCIES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Section: POPULATION LIVING STANDARDS AND LABOR MARKET
Language: Ukrainian
Abstract: The principal causes of poverty of elderly people in Ukraine, specifics of their incomes and structure of expenditures are analysed in the article; the risks of poverty by social-demographic composition of households are estimated. According to the author’s findings, a size and composition of consumer’s expenses depend on the sex and age: a size of women’s incomes and, accordingly, expenditures is traditionally lower than that of men; the gender gap in incomes and expenses increases with age, as the largest disparities are observed among the elderly. It is revealed that the high rates of monetary poverty are kept in complex multi-generation families.
In spite of the fact that pensioners’ position looks rather safe at the national background (the relative poverty rate among pensioners is traditionally lower that the average country’s rate), their limited income from the solidarity pension system and prevalence of the specific age-related needs (medical treatment, permanent use of medications, other skilled help) contribute to the increased risks of poverty among the elderly people. It has been determined that absence of comfortable environment of residence for elderly people is a serious problem in Ukraine: equipment of municipal housing fund and infrastructure of rural settlements do not answer their needs in most cases. That is why elderly people have higher risks of the deprivation poverty, as compared with the rest of the population. Consequently, in conditions of population aging, public policy on elderly people must combine two different directions: 1) preventing monetary poverty through expanding possibilities of employment for persons that wish to continue working and remain active members of society; implementing the pension reform through «modernizing» the pensions that have been scheduled earlier, and non-admission of the excessive differentiation of pension payments from the solidarity system; and 2) providing decent standards of life and comfortable residence for elderly people, who are not capable or do not wish to continue their labour activity.
Key words: poverty, poverty by deprivations, risks of poverty, incomes, expenditures, elderly people, pensioners.
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