The central subject of this book is to follow the ageing process by addressing a variety of its implicit social dimensions, and to do this by concentrating on a particular geographical region, the Mediterranean basin. At first, to study the demographic and social developments in such a large geographical unit seems to cause no specific difficulties in mobilising detailed and continuous projections as well as analysing its far-reaching sociopolitical dimensions. The immediate importance of this subject of ageing is even more apparent today. Considerations can start from some essential and undisputed observations about the general situation of ageing societies and...

One of the most significant phenomena of the 20th century has beenpopulation ageing– it is estimated that the world’s elderly population is increasing monthly, by about 1 million. According to United Nations (UN) estimates, in 1950, throughout the world, there were more than 205 million people aged 60 and over, constituting 8.1 per cent of the world’s total population. Fifty-seven years later, in 2007, this figure rose to almost 705 million. By 2025, these figures are projected to rise to almost 1.2 billion, an increase of 69 per cent over the 2007 figures. It is alarming to realise...

The huge increase in life expectancy observed in Southern Europe over the past few decades has raised both theoretical and practical questions. On the theoretical side, such an increase looks surprising and difficult to explain on the basis of conventional socioeconomic models since welfare states are weaker in Mediterranean Europe than in the most Northwestern countries, where mortality is often higher. Several hypotheses have been put forward. Of special relevance is the one proposed by a growing number of demographers and sociologists, who have suggested that the longevity records set by Southern European societies might be due primarily to the...

Witnessing the upheavals and rebellions in the early months of 2011 in the Arabian countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean, I came across a short television report from the ongoing Egyptian revolution, today usually associated with the Tahrir Square movements. This specific report had filmed several hundreds of participants in a stormy and obviously highly enraged meeting probably taking place in a university hall or inside another larger building in Cairo. To my utmost surprise, a large group of participants requested publicly that all people over the age of 30 should immediately leave the room. They were expected...

Population ageing is both a challenge and an opportunity: it is achallengeto the various welfare regimes, and anopportunityto move towards a more comprehensive, sustainable and integrated life course approach to active ageing. Radical changes in the age structure will have significant labour market impacts. The countries on the two shores of the Mediterranean Sea are at different stages of the ageing process, so the problems that they face and the policies to tackle them are correspondingly different. On the northern shore – covering the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe – under the present conditions, longer...

The unity of the Mediterranean region, based on a long seafaring tradition and the mutual interplay of histories and cultures, has in more recent times been rediscovered by the European Union (EU). Yet there is a question as to whether there is any continuing commonality between the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Political and cultural divisions have made one unity of the Arab region, as adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO), with countries such as Turkey and Israel situated in a no-man’s-land between the Arab world and Europe. The countries in the Balkan Peninsula, mostly once part of a...

The literature analysing women’s labour market participation and its implications for welfare polices has generally focused on childcare services, and more specifically, on the effects of this area of caregiving activities on female (namely, mother’s) employment. In particular, the development of public and publicly regulated care services for small children, on the one hand, enables women to participate in the labour market and, on the other, offers them employment opportunities.

With the ageing population and the changing forms of care, the developments in the elder care labour market are gradually becoming a crucial issue. In this respect, the ‘new risk’...

There has been a sharp increase in the volume of migration to Europe since the 1990s, which has reached its highest level since the Second World War. In the 1990s, ‘the old continent’ became the number one destination for migrants, ahead of the US, owing to the convergence of several trends (Simon, 1995; Fargues, 2003). Political and economic change in the European Union (EU) member states, spurred on by European integration, has been especially dramatic in Southern European countries – Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy – turning them from suppliers of migrants into countries of immigration. The acceleration of globalisation...

This chapter concentrates on changes in demographic regimes in the Southern Mediterranean, looking in particular at the connections between population size and potential labour market opportunities within and beyond the borders of these countries, with a focus on gender and the education levels of jobseekers, as well as at short- and long-term migration perspectives. This puts the emphasis predominantly on the potentials of younger cohorts and their position within this process. The gradual emergence of societies of longevity in the Arab world, with their particular problems, is also addressed. To begin the analysis, however, I start by doing away with...

In many European countries, including some in the Mediterranean region, the first decade of the 2000s has witnessed an increase in state provision of social care services for older people, and this in spite of retrenchment policies in other areas of state welfare policies. This is certainly related to the pressing character of ageing in European societies, but also a response to the under-development of social care for older people in some countries.

Traditionally labelled as a classic example of a family-based welfare state and a member of the Southern European group, Portugal has undergone substantial reforms in its long-term...

The increase in life expectancy is leading to growing numbers of frail older people worldwide, while the potential availability of family and informal care resources – especially from older people’s children – is dramatically declining in Europe, due to lower fertility rates, rising labour market participation by women and higher shares of lone-elderly households (OECD, 2005a). Providing appropriate long-term care to large numbers of disabled, very old people therefore represents an increasing challenge to all welfare states, particularly in the light of the preference granted by official policies, in Europe as elsewhere, to arrangements promoting ‘ageing in place’, by enhancing...

Israel is a young country established in 1948, with a current population of about 7.9 million citizens, of whom about 5.9 million are Jewish, 1.6 million Arabic and 0.4 million others (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012a). Israel is a multicultural society and the composition of its population reflects a kaleidoscope of ethnicities, religions and religiosity, languages and migration waves. For example, there were several waves of mass migration to Israel; the first was during the 1950s, immediately after the establishment of the state of Israel, and included holocaust survivors who left Europe and immigrants from Asian-African countries, in particular...

From figures based on the 2005 Population and Housing Census for the Maltese islands, as at the end of December 2009, the population of Malta was estimated at 412,970, consisting of 205,419 males and 207,551 females. The proportion of those aged 60+ has been steadily increasing during the past 50 years, and in 2009 represented 22 per cent of the Maltese population, or 90,697 (NSO, 2010a) (see Figure 13.1).

According to the 2005 National Census, the mean age of the Maltese population was 49.43, while for the 1995 Census it was 35.73 (COS, 1997; NSO, 2007). This clearly shows the...

The story of the legendary character Peter Pan living in Neverland begins with such words, ‘All children, except one, grow up’ (Barrie, 1911, p 3). J.M. Barrie’s character Peter Pan is a child who will never grow up. This legendary story promulgated the myth that, while it was the fate of all children to grow old, this was not the case with Peter Pan. In reality, the children of Turkey today will be part of the future demographic trend towards rapid population ageing. Turkey is neither a Neverland nor are its young people endowed with the eternal youth of Peter...

Population ageing in the Arab region is a relatively recent phenomenon. However, propelled by rapid socioeconomic changes, various patterns of migration, modernity and advances in health, there is little doubt that this process is being compressed in several countries of the region (Sibai and Kronfol, 2007). Population ageing, with all its ramifications, is today particularly evident in Lebanon, a small middle-income country on the Eastern Mediterranean shore (total population around 3,756,000; United Nations, 2011). Adults aged 65+ currently represent 7.7 per cent of its population, the highest percentage in the region (Sibai et al, 2012), and this is projected to...

Populations around the world are ageing rapidly, and it is the less developed countries that are experiencing the most dramatic changes. Although this is both a cause for celebration and a success story, it also presents many challenges and opportunities. While developed countries have had the time and infrastructure to deal with population ageing, developing countries have had shorter periods to adjust and establish mechanisms and policies necessary to meet the needs of their rapidly growing and ageing populations (Beard et al, 2012). This chapter examines the economic, social and health implications of the rapidly shifting demographics in Tunisia, a...