Assessment of the financial situation, determinants and the level of debt of seniors’ households

Abstract

Population ageing is, on the one hand, a natural and inevitable process that occurs in every highly developed economy and, on the other hand, the biggest challenge for modern states, economies and entrepreneurs. This problem is beginning to affect Poland as well. Older people do not form a homogeneous group in terms of financial situation. Varying income levels of seniors’ households lead to marked differences also in the ways and purposes of spending money. Furthermore, such households also have an adverse structure of expenditure because of a small number of household members and a high proportion of fixed expenditure in the total spending. This article aims to assess the financial situation and the main causes and level of debt of seniors’ households. Secondary research results were also used in order to compare the author’s results with the research outcomes obtained by various research and scientific institutes.