RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2021-23

Title

Elderly Poverty and Its Measurement

Abstract

This paper examines various aspects of elderly poverty and its measurement. It first discusses some of the most important issues relating to measuring elderly poverty. It then reviews recent trends in elderly poverty, which show considerable heterogeneity in the extent of elderly poverty even among developed countries. Such cross-country differences are due at least partly to differences in the generosity of public old-age pensions and other social safety nets for the elderly. Empirical evidence also corroborates that the expansion of public pension programs has often played a key role in reducing elderly poverty.

Keywords

Elderly poverty; Population aging; Poverty measurement; Public pensions

JEL Classification

H55, I32, J14

Inquiries

Yoko NIIMI
Faculty of Policy Studies, Doshisha University and Asian Growth Research Institute

Charles Yuji HORIOKA
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
FAX: +81-78-803-7059
Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University
Asian Growth Research Institute
Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
National Bureau of Economic Research