5 out of 10 pensioners in Romania feel financially and socially excluded. The elderly claim that they feel marginalized due to lack of money, friends or health problems, according to a study conducted by the research company Novel, at the initiative of Provident Financial Romania.
The research was conducted in June on a representative sample of 1,204 people, over 25 years old, with 426 respondents being over 65 years old.
As a matter of fact, those who feel a form of financial exclusion are more dissatisfied with their lives. In the case of people without a job, regardless of age, the feeling of exclusion is more acute, and people feel that they have no one to turn to for emotional support, but neither do they have a person to take care of them temporarily in case of need.
Thus, 6 out of 10 Romanians who do not carry out a professional activity stated that they feel socially excluded. In the case of people over the age of 65, but also of those in rural areas, the feeling of exclusion appears, mainly, due to the lack of financial support. At the same time, 32% of retirees, double the number of people in employment, do not use any financial product, such as card and bank account, loans, insurance or savings products.
„Last year forced us to test our limits and adaptability, and changes in society took place at a brisk pace. After almost a year and a half of pandemic, we wanted to see the effects perceived by the most vulnerable members of society, but also to understand how we could help them. The data from the study reconfirm the need to develop initiatives to support financial and social inclusion, especially among those with reduced access to financial, digital or transport infrastructure. That’s why we launched, together with our Metropolitan Life partner, ProviSenior – the product through which we offer seniors a 10 percentage point discount from the standard interest, but also a free life and health insurance,” said Florin Bâlcan, general manager of Provident Financial Romania.
Most elderly face health problems
Nearly half of people over the age of 65 said they have health problems, compared to just 22% of those aged 25-64. 22% of people aged 65+, compared to 17% of those aged 25-64, have had a health problem in the last 2 years that required an unforeseen financial effort, and most resorted to savings or borrowed money from the family to solve the problem.
37% of the elderly said that, in case of need, they would have nowhere to borrow money, a situation that also applies to 30% of young people and the middle-aged.
Respondents to the study, especially those over 65, said they were skeptical that life or health insurance would help them save, while almost half (age group 25-64) and over 35% (over 65) believe that a life or health insurance would protect their family in case of death / disability.
Home renovation, among the priorities of Romanians when it comes to small investments
If they had 15,000 lei, 32% of young people would choose to spend them on the education of children / grandchildren, a percentage equal to that of the elderly over 65 who would turn to this option.
At the same time, 35% of people over the age of 65 would choose to invest in home renovation, compared to 27% of young people. Romanians’ homes are currently built mostly of brick (59%) and concrete (12%), and most have parquet floors (82%).
Romanians also say that they paint quite frequently – 30% of them have done so in the last year, and 32% in the last 2-3 years. Among the main renovation works that Romanians want, in the first place is the purchase of new pieces of furniture (27%), painting (19%) or changing sanitary installations (13%).