Senior citizens

One topical theme for Nordic co-operation is the demographic trend towards an ageing population. It is therefore important to focus on how the Nordic countries will be able to face the challenges of a population with a growing proportion of senior citizens, such as the increased cost of health, pensions and care for the elderly.

A reduced workforce also means that it will be more difficult to guarantee the resources necessary to cope with a greater demand for welfare. The number of senior citizens in the Nordic Region is constantly rising. In Finland in 2005, those claiming their first pension outnumbered those who entered the labour market. The same phenomenon will soon hit the other Nordic countries. In future, an ever-smaller workforce will be required to support more and more people. See also: the Nordic welfare model.

Work on age-related deaf-blindness

Age-related deaf-blindness is prioritised very differently in the different Nordic countries. The challenges in this area include identifying the deaf-blind group and determining who trains the staff who have direct contact with them, as well as the nature of this training.

In the latter part of 2008, the Nordic Staff Training Centre for Deafblind Services (NUD) [da]) will convene a seminar at which the various issues, and NUD's role in relation to them, will be addressed. The seminar will also present the results of the recently completed Swedish project “Identifying senior citizens with serious combinations of impaired sight and hearing”.

The Norwegian project that resulted in the website sansetap.no [no] will also play an important role in this work. The aim of the seminar is to establish a basis on which future courses will be run at Nordic level, if this proves desirable.

Evaluation of senior citizens' conditions and the Nordic generation conference

There are RAI groups active in all of the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council of Ministers has helped to fund this project over a ten-year period. Its objective is to co-ordinate Nordic efforts on evaluating senior citizens' conditions, both social and medical, regardless of where they live (e.g. own home, retirement homes or serviced flats).

The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Norwegian Pensioners' Association [no] are also to hold a Nordic conference in Norway on 29–31 October 2008, on the theme of security and unity between the generations. Its purpose is to serve as a forum in which senior citizens and young people can meet to discuss the opportunities and challenges that an ageing population presents for the welfare states in the Nordic Region.

The individual Nordic countries have a long-standing tradition of discussing their ideas and development with each other. Does this tradition still exist? Can it continue in the future, even as the EU gains greater and greater significance?

Information for senior citizens

The Nordic Council of Ministers has launched a joint social-security portal [en] to inform Nordic citizens about the various types of social provision.

The taxation rules for pensioners differ between the Nordic countries, details of which can be found on Nordic eTax.

The Nordic Council of Ministers also runs its own information service, Hello Norden, the purpose of which is, for example, to assist senior citizens who require specific guidance on relocating or commuting in the Nordic Region. Hello Norden offers people who relocate within the Region the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers on issues such as pension schemes.

In the event of people being caught between the countries' different systems, their case is passed to the Freedom of Movement Forum, which brings pressure to bear on the countries' governments to change their rules to facilitate movement across the Region's borders for senior citizens and others.

Nordic welfare research and an ageing population

The Nordic Council of Ministers' welfare-research programme, which ran during 2000–2006 and cost DKK 35 million, included an assessment of the circumstances of senior citizens. A large number of researchers from across the Nordic Region participated in the research. A number of welfare-policy themes were explored, including care of the elderly.

One of the projects was called “Health and Welfare: An overview of Nordic welfare research into care of the elderly”. The final report from the welfare-research programme was published in 2006. A subsequent discussion paper published the same year, called “What lies ahead for the Nordic model?”, discussed the future of the Nordic welfare model in relation to the global competitive economy. The discussion paper has also been translated into English.

Tangible examples

Much of the work with senior citizens in the Nordic Region is done by the Nordic Council of Ministers' Committee of Senior Officials for Health and Social Affairs (EK-S).

The Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) and Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research (NAD) are two institutions whose work includes issues related to senior citizens. NAD's research into alcohol and the elderly revealed that senior citizens on average consume less alcohol than other Nordic citizens. This is particularly important in light of the dangers associated with combining alcohol and medication.

Another four Nordic institutions that are active in social and health affairs contribute in different ways. On 1 January 2009, NSH, NUD, NAD and NOPUS will merge to form a joint Nordic welfare centre (NVC).

The centre will strengthen and streamline Nordic co-operation, especially in the area of social policy, where work with the elderly constitutes a central part of the Region's welfare model. Care of the elderly and pension schemes differ between the Nordic countries.