A minimum income for healthy living (MIHL) – older New Zealanders

Socio-ecological perspective of older age life expectancy: income, gender inequality, and financial crisis in Europe

Background

Population is aging rapidly in Europe. Older age life expectancy (OLE) can be influenced by country-level depth of credit information (DCI) as an indicator of financial crisis, gross national income (GNI) per capita, and gender inequality index (GII). These factors are key indicators of socio-ecological inequality. They can be used to develop strategies to reduce country-level health disparity. The objective of this study was to confirm the relationship between socio-ecological factors and OLE in Europe.

Methods

Data were obtained from World Bank, WHO, and UN database for 34 Europe countries. Associations between socio-ecological factors and OLE were assessed with Pearson correlation coefficients and three regression models. These models assumed that appropriate changes in country-level strategies of healthy aging would produce changes in GNI per capital as personal perspective, GII in social environment perspective, and DCI in public policy perspective to implement socio-ecological changes. Hierarchal linear regression was used for final analysis.

Results

Although OLE (women and men) had significant negative correlation with GII (gender inequality index, r = − 0.798, p = 0.001), it had positive correlations with GNI (gross national income per capita, r = 0.834, p = 0.001) and DCI (depth of credit information index, r = 0.704, p = 0.001) levels caused by financial crisis. Higher levels GNI and DCI but lower GII were found to be predictors of OLE (women and men) (R² = 0.804, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Factors affecting older age life expectancy in Europe were identified from socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological indicators (GII, GNI, and DCI) in Europe appear to have a latent effect on OLE levels. Thus, country-level strategies of successful aging in Europe should target socio-ecological factors such as GII, GNI, and DCI value.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12992-017-0279-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Measuring living standards of older people using Sen's Capability Approach: development and validation of the LSCAPE-24 (Living Standards Capabilities for Elders) and LSCAPE-6

The impact of disparities in socio-economic status on the health of older people is an important issue for policy makers in the context of population ageing. As older people live in different types of economic circumstances and because, as people age, their desires and needs are different to those of younger generations, measures of living standards need to be appropriate for older people. This paper reports on the validation of a measure of living standards for older people based on Sen's Capability Approach. Using this approach, living standards are conceptualised as varying from constraint to freedom rather than from hardship to comfort. Using the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing omnibus survey of 3,923 adults aged 50–87 years, the validity of the measure was assessed. The results indicate that this measure assesses what older people are able to achieve. In addition, this measure discriminates better at the higher end of the living standards spectrum than an existing measure that assesses living standards from hardship to comfort in terms of what people possess. From this, a short form of the measure has been developed which offers a conceptually based and valid measure useful for survey research with older people. This measure of living standards provides future avenues for improved understandings of socio-economic position in later life.

Regional Issue: Social Policy Developments in Australia and New Zealand

In his celebrated work of comparative policy, Francis Castles argued that a radical wage-earning model of welfare had evolved in Australia and New Zealand over the course of the 20th century. The Castles' thesis is shown to have two parts: first, the 'fourth world of welfare' argument that rests upon protection of workers; and, second, an emphasis on the path-dependent nature of social policy. It is perfectly possible to accept the second premise of the argument without the first, and indeed many do so. It is also possible to accept the importance of wage level protection concerns in Australasian social policy without accepting the complete fourth world thesis. This article explores the path of social democracy in Australia and New Zealand and the continuing importance of labour market regulation, as well as considering the extent to which that emphasis still makes Australasian social policy distinctive in the modern age. The argument focuses on the data and policies relating to labour market protection and wages, as well the systems of welfare and social protection, and the comparative information on poverty and inequality.