Filenews 2 October 2021 - by Theano Thiopoulou
Most elderly people in Cyprus live, according to Eurostat, in buildings they rent, despite the general impression to the contrary, in contrast to other countries, such as Lithuania and Ireland, where a very high proportion of older people live alone and own houses.
On the occasion of yesterday's International Day of the Elderly, Eurostat released the 2021 edition of the interactive publication "Aging Europe - 2021 interactive edition", which provides a picture of the daily lives of older people in the EU.
In particular, as noted in the report, more than half of the elderly living alone in Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria (which recorded the highest share, at 64.9 %) rent.
Around 60.9% of older people living alone in the EU-27 are homeowners, either with no outstanding mortgage or a mortgage. Just 4.7% are homeowners who have not yet paid off their mortgage. In Cyprus, landlords without a mortgage are under 50% of older people. By contrast, more than a third (34.4 %) of older people living alone in the 'EU-27' rent.
The average number of rooms per person for households consisting of one person aged 65 and over is particularly high in Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Cyprus (4.3 - 4.7 rooms in 2018), increased to 5.2 rooms in Ireland and peaked at 5.3 rooms in Malta. All six of the EU Member States also recorded a relatively high average number of rooms per person for all households. In contrast, the average number of rooms was relatively low for all households consisting of older people in Latvia and most eastern EU Member States (except Hungary).
According to the report, more than half of older women in Denmark and Estonia lived alone, while the lowest shares of older women living alone were recorded in Cyprus (23.4 %) and Spain (31%).
In 2019, the share of very elderly people in the EU population of '27' was 2.8 %. There were five EU Member States where this share was less than 2%, with Ireland, Cyprus and Slovakia holding the lowest shares (1.5-1.6 %). By contrast, France and four southern Member States - Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy - had the highest shares of the very elderly and the maximum of 3.6 % was recorded in Italy.
Old-age dependency ratio
By 2050, the EU '27' Member States will have fewer than two people of working age for each person aged 65 or over. There are seven Member States where dependence on old age is expected to reach a level of at least 60%, with the highest proportions being in Italy (66.5%), Greece (68.1%) and Portugal (68.8%). At the other end of the range, the old-age dependency ratio is projected to remain below 40% in 2050 in Cyprus.
