Multicultural conviviality in the context of active ageing in Luxembourg

Luxembourg’s population has not only become more culturally diverse in the past years but is also growing older. Almost 20 per cent of the total population of Luxembourg is over 60 years old, of which one third are non-Luxembourgers. Active ageing can make an important contribution to the quality of life of older people and promote social inclusion, whereas the feeling of not belonging can be a psychological barrier to participation in activities.
This was the starting point of the PAN-VAL project on active ageing of Luxembourgers and non-Luxembourgers, which was funded by the Luxembourg Ministry of Family and Integration and carried out in collaboration between a team from the University of Luxembourg and GERO – Kompetenzzenter fir den Alter.
A total of N = 1000 people over 50 (51% women, 49% men) participated in a nationally representative online and telephone survey, and a number of n = 39 in-depth qualitative interviews were carried out with participants from four selected municipalities in different parts of the Grand Duchy: Differdange in the south, Mersch in the centre and Ettelbrück and Clervaux in the north.
Based on our quantitative data, we will first present a model on the relations between sense of belonging, social inclusion, loneliness and participation in social activities.
Drawing on our qualitative interviews, we will further analyze how the participants describe the processes how they developed a sense of belonging to the places they live in through mundane encounters with people from their municipalities and neighborhoods. We will also explore, how older people experience conviviality with regard to the offers for active ageing, focusing in particular on barriers and facilitators for participation in such offers.
Policy implications and lessons learnt about how to adapt social offers to the diverse needs of an increasingly heterogeneous target group will be discussed.