It is a fact, in all rich countries, society is aging. By 2050, 25% of the population of the highest income countries will be over 65, according to a United Nations study. France is not immune to the aging of its population. Today, the over-60s represent a quarter of the population. In 2070, France should have 22 million people aged 65 and over compared to 13 million today, according to INSEE. The aging of the population has a cost, particularly in terms of social protection and the financing of pensions. But is the idea that the "old people cost society dear" the reality or a misrepresentation?
People over the age of 60 represent a quarter of the French population today, one and a half times more than at the start of the 1980s. health and those related to pensions which necessarily benefit seniors more. The latter represent three quarters of social protection expenditure in France.
Nevertheless, as indicated by France Stratégie, an independent institution placed under the Prime Minister, in its study "Social protection:who pays the cost of the aging of the population?", "if the over 60s remain net beneficiaries of social protection, the transfers they receive on average individually, net of their contributions to its financing, have fallen significantly over the last decade.This has in turn made it possible to limit the rise in costs associated with aging for working people. population ".
As the organization notes, for society, the cost of social protection expenditure dedicated to the elderly has not soared with the aging of the population. On the one hand, because of the increase in the retirement age and the fall in the number of retirees that it entails, but also because retirement pensions are now indexed to prices and no longer to salaries with consequent moderation of pension levels.
On the other hand, it is not only the working population, therefore the younger population, who must pay the health and retirement expenses of the oldest, even if their financing weighs mainly on them. Indeed, seniors are put to contribution since their income is also subject to the Generalized Social Contribution (CSG), a tax created at the end of the 1990s intended to participate in the financing of social protection, and whose rate has recently been increase. Thus, 40-59 year olds contribute around 19,400 euros per year to the financing of social protection, compared to 7,900 euros for 60-79 year olds and 5,100 euros for those over 80.
"Old people are expensive for society", "they are no longer of any use to society", etc., so many statements that we can hear today in a society where youthism still reigns supreme. Preconceived ideas to fight.
If it is necessary to remember, the elderly are full citizens! With the increase in life expectancy in good health, more and more seniors are remaining independent and active, and even continue to work after retirement, sometimes through odd jobs.
On the other hand, seniors promote the development of a whole section of the economy known as the "silver economy". The latter designates all the goods and services dedicated to the needs of the elderly in the fields of health, social, transport, housing, leisure, etc. Thus, sectors such as those of home help, home automation, robotics, technologies to prevent falls, to geolocate or monitor the health status of the elderly on a daily basis, etc., benefit from enormous opportunities. economic which have consequences in particular in terms of employment and income for the working people.
Seniors have a slightly higher standard of living than the rest of the population. According to the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), half of retirees have an income of more than 1,850 euros per month, compared to 1,770 euros for the population as a whole. The "old" therefore count a lot in terms of consumption, with regard to their housing, their food, their health, but also leisure activities for example. Seniors therefore make an important contribution to the smooth running of the French economy and its development.
The very rich associative milieu in France, which plays an important role in fields as varied as social, education, leisure, sport, etc., lives largely thanks to the voluntary work of seniors. The same phenomenon can be seen in terms of political commitment, especially locally. 22% of the most socially involved French people within an association or in an elective mandate are aged 75 and over, as indicated by the Caisse des Dépôts in its file "What place for our seniors in society?".
Seniors are also pillars of family life. In this sense, they are often led to replace the role of the community. First, from a financial point of view. The oldest are indeed very numerous to bring help in the form of money to their descendants, their children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren who are experiencing financial problems.
The youngest seniors also fulfill an important function of supporting their ascendants, their very elderly parents who are sometimes losing their autonomy, out of family solidarity but also due to the lack of means made available by society to support the oldest.
In the same way, seniors often act as indispensable supports for their children. They are thus very often asked to take care of their grandchildren in order to compensate, for example, for the lack of childcare facilities.
If the expenses related to aging cost society in terms of health expenses, retirement, etc., the oldest fully participate in the smooth running of society and, in the end, allow it to save money by often replacing the role that poor public services should play.
