Assistenza domiciliare: invecchiamento della popolazione e cure formali e informali, il gradiente Nord - Sud Europa

[Machine translation] Over the last few decades, Europe has experienced a fall in the fertility rate, accompanied by increasing longevity, two demographic factors that indicate the progressive aging of its population. The decline in births has reduced the size of younger generation cohorts, while the extension of life expectancy has delayed the time of death. The percentage of the elderly (over 65) of the entire population is higher in Europe than in any other continent, and the phenomenon of ageing is a problem that will prevail throughout the century. The forecasts for 2060 on European demographic dynamics are worrying: by that year about half of the population of the EU countries will be over fifty and those over 65 will increase from the current 18% (2013 data) to 28% (Eurostat, 2015). Within the group over 50, the “sandwich generation”, that is, the generation of individuals engaged simultaneously on the dual front of caring responsibilities for children who are not yet autonomous and elderly parents, will play a fundamental role in providing informal care to the most fragile generations of elderly people.