Analysis of life satisfaction of the elderly population on the example of Sweden, Austria and Germany

Abstract

Under the conditions of population ageing, particular interest is paid to the study of life satisfaction in older ages. The purpose of the article is to assess the level of life satisfaction of the population in old age. The main method is econometric modelling using individual data from the Study of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). According to the results of the study, ageing itself does not necessarily worsen one’s perception of life - there is no evidence from Austria and Spain that all people systematically, regardless of the year of birth, go through a stage of a lower level of life satisfaction. An important factor of life satisfaction is health self-assessment.