Society and seniors

The European Commission has declared 2012 The European year for active aging and solidarity between generations. This issue calls each society to analyze the process of population aging and it's social and economic consequences. Currently active aging can be the key to solve the demographic trends, because Europe is the continent with the slowest population growth. The present study follows the issue of seniors from a demographic and socio-economic point of view, as well as social attitudes towards seniors. Process of demographic aging in the Czech Republic is characterized by using literature and statistical sources, as well as the position of society to activity of the post-productive population in the labor market, to health, social security and pension, as well as the relationship within the family and society. Attention is given to life satisfaction and quality of life of older people. The submitted diploma thesis has a theoretical-empirical nature. The theoretical part consists of five chapters. The first chapter defines the basic concepts associated with the process of aging. The following chapters are dealing with life satisfaction and quality of life of older people, as well as with social and intergenerational relationships in the family and in society as a whole. The socio-economic impact of demographic aging on society and the measures needed to deal with the unfavorable consequences are also presented. The thesis also includes a questionnaire and evaluation of life satisfaction and quality of life of seniors, addressed to two groups of people at retirement age. The aim of work is reflecting the period of old age and life satisfaction of the elderly. Another aim of this thesis is to characterize the evolution of aging in the Czech Republic, highlighting its likely future development. The results are dedicated for those who seek to understand this issue of the elderly in our society