25 percent of all Danish pensioners live almost entirely on state pension – meaning that they belong to a very low income group. What are their lives like? 

The EGV Foundation has initiated two PhD projects about older adults in Denmark with low income. One project focuses on socially vulnerable older persons in the city, the other on persons living on state pension as their sole source of income.

PhD fellow Rikke Nøhr Brünner, MA in Sociology, studies the living conditions and everyday life of older adults living on state pension at VIVE – The Danish Centre of Applied Social Science / Copenhagen University.

25 percent of Danish pensioners live almost entirely on state pension, possibly supplemented by personal allowances and in some cases ATP funds. Until now, research into the living conditions among this relatively large group of people has been insufficient. Using mixed methods, this project analyses the living conditions and everyday life of pensioners with low income.

The quantitative part of the project shows the prevalence of the problem and provides an analysis of the link between relative poverty and other living conditions among poor pensioners.

The qualitative part provides an analysis of the meaning that poor pensioners ascribe to events that have happened during their life course, how deprivation may have affected their life, and how they handle their present life situation.

The project is scheduled to end in 2018.

Funding is shared by VIVE – The Danish Centre of Applied Social Science and the EGV Foundation.