The number of people aged over 60 continues to rise in Moldova. In 2016, the aging coefficient rose by 0.5 percentage points to 17.2% of the country’s population, which is a high aging level. At the start of this year, the aging coefficient in urban areas for the first time exceeded the similar coefficient in rural areas, IPN has learned from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Life expectancy for the elderly in urban areas is by 2.7 longer than in rural areas. The average length of life of women older than 60 is of 20.1 years, while of men is of 15.9 years.

The elderly people who consider their state of health is satisfactory represent 60%. Some 34.6% consider their state is bad or very bad, while almost 6% of the elderly said it is good or very good.

On January 1, 2017, the social protection bodies supervised almost 700,000 pensioners, by 11,300 more than in 2016. 23% of the pensioners work. In 2016, 46.8% of the households included at least one person aged 60 and over.

In urban areas, 24.8% of the households consisting only of elderly people consider their living conditions are bad or very bad. In rural areas, this figure stands at 13%. In 2016, 37.3% of the households with elderly people didn’t afford to include meat or fish once in two days in their menus.