Institute for Social Development Studies, Center for Studies of Incomes and Living Standards Anna Ermolina, Analyst Dr. Oxana Sinyavskaya, Leading research fellow Maria Varlamova, Research fellow Active Ageing Index for Russia: issues of methodology Data for Russian AAI: Russian Population Census (2010) Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (2011) European Social Survey (2010, 2012) Russian Generations and Gender Survey (2011) “Comprehensive Monitoring of Living Conditions of the Population” (2011) Human Mortality Database (2010) Data of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2010) Rationality: to test the applicability of international approach to measure active ageing in Russia to measure unused potential of the elderly in Russia Data for European AAI: EU Labour Force Survey ( ) European Quality of Life Survey (2012) EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions (2010 и 2012) European Social Survey (2010 и 2012) Eurostat ICT Survey (2010 и 2012) European Health & Life Expectancy Information System (2010 и 2012) Research questions: 1.To what extent can the Active Ageing Index be applied to Russian context and data? 2.To what extent are the results obtained for Russia on the basis of existing data sources comparable with other countries of the AAI? Data & Methodology European methodology of AAI: Country ESS (2012), row % EQLS (2012), % At least once a year At least once every six months At least once every three months At least once a month At least once a week At least every month Belgium35,828,324,220,511,716,4 Bulgaria9,23,32,11,20,43,3 Czech Republic21,811,27,75,21,112,9 Germany47,937,934,929,114,818,3 Denmark38,132,127,623,013,826,8 Estonia13,88,46,95,73,06,8 Spain53,439,030,422,86,69,6 France33,027,524,821,912,823,2 United Kingdom38,330,526,221,212,721,4 Hungary17,08,24,73,11,36,1 Italy39,226,821,418,17,514,9 Lithuania19,27,13,21,50,16,0 Netherlands52,046,242,438,027,330,5 Norway62,545,337,428,39,9 Poland11,87,85,83,21,94,8 Portugal28,516,210,66,42,47,6 Sweden38,324,521,216,96,530,7 Slovenia25,121,516,912,96,010,1 Slovakia40,217,49,56,01,65,0 Finland41,726,819,613,15,325,5 Sensitivity of results to data source The participation in voluntary activities of the elderly according to EQLS (2012) and ESS (2012) The results of 4 domains for Russia in comparison with the best EU practice and EU average, % Results & Discussion Sensitivity & robustness analysis The position of Russia in countries ranking across 4 domains and AAI The strengths of ageing in Russia: High level of education of the elderly Relatively high employment for people aged 65+ Active use Internet by the elderly The weaknesses of ageing in Russia: Low participation in voluntary activities Limited access to health and dental care High prevalence of multigenerational families High mortality & bad health Poor mental well-being Weak social connectedness Lack of lifelong learning The main results 1.The AAI of Russia equals 31.2% (the 18 th place out of 29 countries) in Limited sociological and social statistical information of active ageing in Russia: No regular surveys focused on elderly population Russia does not participate in international surveys except ESS (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) and GGS (2004, 2007, 2011) Only RLMS is (and GGS was) longitudinal survey 3.The indicators are sensitive to the data source and question wording. 4.Several indicators (voluntary activities, social connectedness, independent living, both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy) do not represent the elderly’s life satisfaction in Eastern European countries. In contrast, other aspects of life (public transportation, social care) contribute significantly to the elderly’s well-being in Russia. Further steps of the research 1.The development of new specific questions based on AAI indicators for RLMS and Rosstat surveys. 2.The design of new AAI indicators for Russia and CIS countries. BSPS Annual Conference – 9 September 2015 University of Leeds The difference between answers to the questions varies from -0.3 percentage points (Finland) to 9.7 points (Spain) and points (Latvia). The sensitivity of results to question wording The prevalence of physical safety among the elderly population according to ESS (2010) References 1.Sidorenko, A, Zaidi, A 2012, “Active Ageing in CIS Countries: Semantics, Challenges, and Responses”, Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, vol UNECE / European Commission 2015, Active Ageing Index 2014: Analytical Report. 3.WHO 2002, Active Ageing: A Policy Framework, Geneva, World Health Organization. 4.Zaidi A 2014, Detailed Information on Indicators used for the Active Ageing Index Zaidi A, Gasior K, Hofmarcher M, Lelkes O, Marin B, Rodrigrues R, Schmidt A, Vanhuysse P, Zolyomi E 2013, Active Ageing Index Concept, Methodology and Final Results, Project: Active Ageing Index (AAI) UNECE Grant No: ECE/GC/2012/003. Acknowledgments The research was carried out within the Basic Research Program of the National Research University Higher School of Economics