Fremtidens ældre - Amternes og Kommunernes Forskningsinstitut

demographic upheaval, and in part their relative state pensions are comparatively
larger (e.g. compared to unemployment benefits).
Basically, Denmark still has a high welfare standard (not for state pensions,
but for pre-retirement benefits, etc. as well as for health and social
care).
This will result in an increase in public expenditure on the elderly of
almost 6 per cent from 2000 to 2050, which is slightly more than the average
of the other OECD countries referred to here (but significantly less
than e.g. Finland and Norway).
Although Denmark's expenditure on home care only makes up a small
portion of public service expenditure on the elderly (15 per cent), a large
proportion of elderly in Denmark receive publicly-funded home care. In
addition, a relatively large number of Danish elderly people live in nursing
homes (7 per cent), however this number does not differ essentially from
what is seen in many other OECD countries. The idea of having the elderly
live in their own homes as long as possible is far from being only a Danish
phenomenon.
Finally, the question is raised about whether there will be enough
health and social care professionals in future. In Denmark today, there is
already a shortage of doctors and nurses – so greater flexibility is needed
among professionals taking medical and social care of the elderly.
The final section of the report (Chapter 4) considers what can best be
done to deal with the increasing numbers of elderly. Three areas are focused
on:
− General fiscal policy
− Increased participation in the labour force
− Changes in methods of financing the welfare society.
With regard to general fiscal policy, it seems clear that increased public
savings in coming years is one approach. This would provide greater economic
flexibility for funding the care of the elderly.
An increased participation in the workforce among Danes of all ages
would provide opportunities for financing the needs of the elderly. This
works both ways: more people would be paying taxes while fewer would
be receiving transfer incomes. Most important, however, would be maintaining
the present high employment rate (again, this is part of fiscal poli-
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