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AndreasHoff,JolantaPerek-Białas
OxfordInstituteofAgeing,UniversityofOxford,UKandWarsawSchoolofEconomics,Polandand
InstituteofSociology,JagiellonianUniversity,Poland
Introduction:theageingsocieties
ofCentralandEasternEurope
Populationageingposesachallengetosociety,withnewproblemsaswellasnewop-
portunitiesemerging.TheUnitedNationsidentifiedpopulationageingasoneofthekey
challengesofthe21stcentury(UN2002)bytheyear20502billionpeopleworldwide
willbeaged60yearsandover(UN2007).Atthemoment,theeffectsofdemographic
ageingarenowhereelseasvisibleasinEurope,whichhasbecomethefirst‘matureso-
ciety’intheworldwhereolderpeopleoutnumbertheyoung(Harper2006).Todayabout
22percentofthepeoplelivingintheEuropeanUnionareaged60yearsandolder
(Eurostat2006)andtheshareofolderEuropeansisprojectedcontinuingtorise.As
aconsequence,Europeansocietiesarechangingasocietywithmanyolderpeoplehas
needsdifferentfromonewithmanyyoungpeople.
Thepost-communistsocietiesofCentralandEasternEurope(CEE)1arefacingan
evenmorerapidageingprocessthanWesternEurope.Thisismainlyduetoanunpre-
cedenteddropinfertilityacrosstheregionduringthe1990sincombinationwithlarge
numbersofyoungEasternEuropeansattheheightoftheirreproductivephaseemigrat-
ingtoWesternEuropeandotherpartsoftheWesternworld,thusreducingtheshareof
youngerpeople(Hoff2008).Lifeexpectancyatbirthhasalsoincreased,therebyincreas-
ingnumbersandshareofolderpeople.Theresultingveryrapiddemographicchange
coincideswithanequallyrapidsocialchangeinthewakeoftransformationfromcom-
munismtomarketeconomiesthatCEEhasbeenundergoingfornearlytwodecadesnow.
Intheabsenceofgenerous,well-developed,comprehensivepublicpension,healthand
long-termcaresystemsandsocialservicesliketheonescommoninmanyWestern
Europeansocieties,CEEseemstobeillequippedtocopewithyetanothertransition.
Theprospectofageingsocieties,however,hasbecomearealityinCEEalreadythis
1Initsbroadestdefinition,CEEencompassesAlbania,Armenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria,Croatia,theCzechRepublic,EastGermany,Estonia,Georgia,Hungary,Latvia,Lithuania,
Macedonia,Moldova,Montenegro,Poland,Romania,Russia(Europeanpart),Serbia,Slovakia,Slovenia,
andtheUkraine.