The Emilia-Romagna is one of the oldest Italian regions. People aged over 65 years are more than 986,000. Equal to 22.3% of the total population. Of these, 517,000 are aged over 75 years. The aging index, ie the ratio between the elderly and the younger generation (0-14 years), is 167.3. A much higher value than the European and the national average: 111.3 and 144.5, respectively. Furthermore, the demographic forecasts tell us that, within the next 20 years, about 1/ 3 of the residents in Emilia-Romagna Region will be over 80 years. To be also noted, that the number of families composed of only one component with more than 65 years is increasing: passing from 12% in 1999 to 14.08% in 2010. For a total of 270,000 elderly people living alone, particularly women. These are some of the figures released at the 4th Regional Conference on the action plan for the elderly, during which the last social budget of the regional policies has been also presented.
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