Critical Aspects of the Sustainability of Care for the Senior Population in Slovakia

One of the biggest challenges of today's global world is the aging of the population. From the information published by the WHO, we can expect that the proportion of the world's population aged 60 will almost double by 2050 and will constitute almost 22% of the world's population. For the age category 80+, the WHO forecasts up to a three-fold increase, which would bring this age category 426 million new individuals. Accordingly, it is necessary to reflect the fact that these are persons who need increased health and social care. Another fact that needs to be taken into account when trying to ensure the necessary care for the senior population is the continuing decline of the so-called productive part of the population in the economically developed countries of the world. Individual states perceive the trend of population aging as a socio-economic and political problem. At the same time, care for the senior population needs to be understood systemically, i.e. not only from the perspective of the needs of the seniors, but also of their family members or professionals providing services for seniors, and above all, the availability of financial resources to cover this care. The aim of the contribution is to present the most serious risks in the field of sustainability of care for seniors. The contribution was processed using the thematic analysis of secondary data contained in government documents of the Slovak Republic focused on the care of seniors.


Keywords: population aging, seniors care, risks, sustainability, secondary analysis