Eco&Stat n°3-23 -The reference budget for healthy, independent elderly people

This report presents the reference budget for elderly people in Luxembourg. The underlying hypotheses are that the reference persons are aged 65 years and over, are retired, completely autonomous in all domains of everyday life, in good health and are renters on the private housing market. The reference budget follows a European methodology and takes into account all the essential needs of the reference persons. The budget is calculated for a single elderly person and a couple. The first chapters of the report propose a theoretical framework on ageing as a societal phenomenon with social and political implications. Another chapter explains in detail the process of setting up a specific scenario for healthy and autonomous elderly people. The subsequent chapters describe each basket in detail, with the sources and methods used and the results by person and household. Finally, the last chapter proposes a comparison between the reference budget and a series of indicators, such as the disposable income of elderly people in Luxembourg, their monthly average expenses, the minimum retirement scheme and the at-risk-of-poverty indicator.