Well-being differences in old-age in Europe: the Active Ageing Index by cohorts

The goal of this paper is to study and explain the differences in wellbeing in old age across cohorts and countries in Europe. This is done with the replication of the Active Ageing Index for cohorts formed by age group, sex and country for 2012. The analysis is performed with different model regressions at the cohort level and introducing macro variables at the country level. In general, there is a gap in active ageing in detriment of females which is larger in older cohorts. In addition, wealth, equity and pension settings of the country are important predictors for better active ageing. Finally, it is found that the Social-Democratic welfare regime (Nordic countries) with its set of strong redistributive policies, is the most favourable system for active ageing.