The project Ageing of the population and related challenges for health and social systems (AGEING-CZ), whose principal investigator is Jakub Hlávka from the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University, aims to study the economic, fiscal and social risks that the ageing of the population brings with it. In 2023, the Czech Republic was the 21st country in the world with the highest proportion of people over 64 and the 29th country with the lowest proportion of children under 15.
“We look at demographic projections and the associated costs in each group, and from this we can extrapolate how the situation will develop in the future. Using a standard methodology, we build a baseline model of how the population is likely to use health and social services, and then through microsimulation we can also assess how the health of individuals evolves over time,” said Jakub Hlávka, outlining the options for quantifying the impact of population ageing on the health and social systems. In addition, the project aims to identify ways and factors that will reduce the burden on public services, either by increasing the efficiency of health care provision or by reducing the need for health care for people over 50, as well as ways and factors that will lead to increased employment and labour participation of older people.
Under the leadership of the MU Faculty of Economics and Administration, a consortium of Czech universities, including the Czech Technical University, Mendel University, Charles University, the Prague University of Economics and Business, and the Economic Institute (EI) of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, is striving to achieve these goals in five research projects. The principal investigator Jakub Hlávka focuses on estimating the impact of demographic change on social and healthcare systems, while Aleš Tichopád (Czech Technical University) focuses on optimising the patient’s journey through the healthcare system. Štěpán Mikula (MU Faculty of Economics and Administration) focuses on productivity and labour activity of the ageing population; behavioural aspects of population ageing are addressed by Lubomír Cingl (Prague University of Economics and Business); and Jana Klánová from RECETOX researches social and environmental determinants of healthy ageing.
The panel discussion with experts from the fields of economics and healthcare, which was held on 18 February at Baťa Palace in Prague, touched on three basic topics: the social and economic risks that ageing brings, the impact of an ageing population on the provision of healthcare and social services and possible solutions to prevent the identified problems.
“We want to meet people who can use our analysis and recommendations. We don’t want to wait four years for results. Even now, at the beginning of the research, we are interested in working with the main stakeholders and communicating with them about the issues. By talking about this problem, it will become more widely known and we will also reach out to representatives of institutions that can really make a difference,” says Jakub Hlávka. “I also think it is useful to meet with experts from different fields. None of us can come up with solutions to the ageing population on our own, but if we come together, we can come up with something that is comprehensive, interesting and useful,” concludes Hlávka, adding that the researchers plan to hold panel discussions twice a year.
The aim of the project, which receives support from the Operational Programme Johann Amos Comenius focused on social sciences and humanities, is to build research capacity for basic research in social sciences and for the analysis of the effectiveness of public policies.
Implemented within the project Ageing of the population and related challenges for health and social systems (AGEING-CZ), reg. no.: CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008743.