"Veinte años No Es Nada": Social Change and Aging in Buenos Aires (1980-2011)

Argentina's population it's experience irreversible changes in the age composition. This changes must involve the implementation of public policies related to the labor retirement that provide fair living to the retired population. Health systems and social security should be able to absorb a growing number of beneficiaries.

The socioeconomic conditions of life of the elderly depend not only on the mechanisms that provide social security systems, but the role that family and relationships between them. In the past, large families accounted for the greatest protection, however, demographic change will result in a huge change in family composition. Reducing the size of the family will have significant impacts in terms of living arrangements of older people and the relationships among its members.

How did change the older population over time? How are they alike and how they differ over yesterday and today? What are the socio-demographic profile of the cohort members in the coming years who will transit to older ages?

The goal of this communication is to investigate the changes observed in the last thirty years in the demographic profile of the population of 65 old years and over, based on cross-sectional analysis in four points in time, according to census data (1980 2010) and to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the population over age 65 living in the city of Buenos Aires.

This should take into account current theoretical developments in sociology of population that formulate a new paradigm with significant analytical potential for understanding the phenomenon of aging (MacInnes & Diaz, 2008).