Health and socioeconomic inequalities among elderly living in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Social exclusion is the inability of some groups of citizens to participate fully in society (van Bergen et al., 2017), socioeconomic inequalities are part of it. The main aim of the research was to show how selected socioeconomic factors contribute to selected health characteristics of elderly living in the Czech Republic. The data for the analysis were obtained within the INTERCOST project reg. n. LTC18066 and entitled “Social exclusion in the elderly 65+ living in the home environment in the Czech Republic”. Data were collected in the Czech Republic at the beginning of 2020. The total number of respondents was 1172, it was a representative quota sample of senior 65+ from the elderly population living in the Czech Republic. Pearson Chisquare test and Adjusted residue analysis were used for processing of selected analyzes. It is evident that selected aspects of subjective perception of health (whether overall, physical or psychical) are closely related to income, subjective evaluation of social status, age and other parameters. It is evident that Czech elderly who had a good social status at working age (on a ten-degree scale of 5.5 to 10) are satisfied with their income, housing and health. Thus, socioeconomic inequalities manifest themselves significantly in the lowest income categories, at the lowest levels of the social ranking, which include, in particular, people with basic education practicing manual professions. It is apparent that the socio-economic inequalities that people have experienced in productive age persist even in old age (Schöllgen, Huxhold, & TeschRömer, 2010).