Ricerc@Sapienza

Active ageing arises from the idea that old people can represent a resource for the society in terms of political, social, economic and cultural contribution; their autonomy and their participation in the labour market and in the society, indeed, have to be encouraged. Focusing on Italy, we investigate the relationships among life cycle, generations and genders within the ageing process and aim to analyse the evolution of active ageing during the last decades by gender and by region.

The demographic challenges of the Mediterranean are not well known. Indeed, major societal changes are taking place in the region: young people’s expectations, women’s desire for greater autonomy, male-female and intergenerational relations, and the forms and size of families. These transformations have consequences on Mediterranean demographics: progress in women’s education, decline in fertility indicators, reduction in intergenerational cohabitation, rural exodus, and an increase in single-parenthood and single households.