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New Poverty and the Old Poor: Pensioners' Incomes in the European Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Frank Laczko
Frank Laczko
Affiliation:
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, Coventry Polytechnic, Priory St, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK.
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Abstract

As we approach 1992, it is likely that elderly people in Britain will increasingly compare themselves with elderly Europeans. In Britain, recent government statements suggest that, for most pensioners, old age is no longer associated with being poor. The purpose of this paper is to compare poverty among elderly people in Britain and other European Community countries. The paper draws upon data from an EC-sponsored study on ‘new poverty’ in the European Community. ‘New poverty’ is not a term commonly used in Britain to describe the changes in poverty that have occurred in the last decade. It is suggested that one of the reasons for this could be because poverty in Britain, more so than in many other EC countries, is still strongly associated with the ‘old poor’. The paper shows that elderly people in the UK are much more dependent on means-tested social assistance (income support) than elderly people in other EC countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 261 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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