Description: |
The income a person receives from a state pension is not the sole source of income of an individual or the household of a retired person. A household's total resources are the sum of streams of benefits received from the state, the market and non-monetized informal care. Drawing on data from the 24-country European Social Survey, 2004-2005, the paper shows that the median household of older people has five streams of income, typically including multiple pensions, home ownership, state-funded health care, informal help from friends, and savings. Among older households, 73 percent say their income is adequate or comfortable, a response that does not differ significantly from that of persons of working age.
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