Capitolul 13. Evaluarea nivelului de securitate socială a persoanelor vârstnice din Republica Moldova

Abstract

The transformations of economic, socio-political and spiritual relations in Moldovan society had a significant impact on the situation and, especially significantly, it affected on the elder persons, who are approximately 26% of the country's population. In this article, the social security of elder people is understood as a set of measures that are directed at ensuring a decent standard of living, as well as the protection of their interests and rights. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to evaluate social security, including pensions and other sources of income, benefits and privileges, social services (provision of social services) and the creation of conditions for the integration of elder people into social life. The analysis was carried out on the basis of statistical and departmental data on the number of pensioners, by category of pensioners and amount of pensions, the ratio of wages and pensions, as well as indicators characterizing the income structure and poverty risk of elder people. In order to obtain more objective results of the research, the complex and systemic approaches were used in combination with such methods as analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, statistical, graphical and functional analysis. This research allows to conclude that in modern society the elderly are the most vulnerable category of the population, exposed primarily to the risk of poverty. Social policies, due to limited financial resources, do not ensure the social security of elder people, the majority of this category of population is in absolute and extreme poverty (if the age of the head of household is 65 years and over, the absolute poverty rate is 47.5%, and if the pension is the main source of income, this indicator in 2024 was 48.5%). In order to ensure the social security of the elderly, recommendations were elaborated to improve state social policies to increase the level of social protection and the development of social services, which will ultimately contribute to the reduction and exception of possible risks of poverty, satisfaction of their vital needs, as well as adaptation and integration into the social life of the country. The article was developed within the framework of the institutional project “Demographic transition in the Republic of Moldova: particularities, socioeconomic implications and consolidation of demographic resilience (2024-2027)”. JEL: I 31, I 38, J 14, J 26