Poverty and social exclusion of older people in ageing European Union and Turkey

The world population is getting older, but the European Union (EU) and Turkey are getting older faster than the world average. Together with children, old people are another vulnerable part of society in a country. Poverty and social exclusion of old people are key policies for social states. This study aims to point out both the importance of the increasing number and the social exclusion of older people in the EU and Turkey. The poverty and social exclusion of older people in the EU and the candidate country Turkey were investigated using past and predicted data obtained from Eurostat, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the World Bank, TurkStat, the United Nations (UN), and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). As income per capita increases, the birth growth rate decreases, and life expectancy at birth increases as a result of rising health expenditures. The decreasing birth rate also causes the older population share in total population to increase. In 2015 the world had a life expectancy at birth growth rate at 36.7% compared with 1960, where the EU grew by 17.1% and Turkey 66.1% compared with 1960. By 2100 the United Nations (UN) has forecast the world’s total population (which was 7.2 billion in 2016) as 11.2 billion, wherein the world’s 65-and-over population is expected to be nearly 2.5 billion, rising 4 times from nearly 631 million in 2016. Thus, the population of old people population is increasing much more rapidly than the world total population. In 2016, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Estonia had the highest ratio of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, while Luxembourg, Denmark, France, and The Netherlands had the lowest ratio. Improvements in health innovations and health expenditure increase lead to people living longer, especially in high-income countries. One of the social states’ main aims is to improve public health, so governments try to provide health care for their citizens. Otherwise facing lower physical and mental capacity create more negativity for older people in their additional living years. Additional years not only provide older people the chance to pursue new activities such as further education or a new career, but also society benefits from the experience of older people.