APCOM

Our life is getting longer, especially in Milano. The city is now officially the oldest in Europe: from 1991 till today, in fact, 100-year-old Milanese people have doubled. Seventeen years ago there were only 217 centenaries in Milano, now they are 547.

Maybe this is due to the very good health system in the city. But the increasingly old population creates a lot of problems too. First of all, there is an economic sustainable problem. For example, in the last year Milano's Municipality spent 100 million Euro for elder people's assistance, which represents 50% of the total amount of social-assistance expenditures. But there are a lot of opportunities for older people in the city.

About 1.500 old aged people can count on "social coupons" (economic contributes of 300, 400 or 600 Euro to pay cleaning ladies or caregivers). But there is more: 5.500 people can use a tele-assistance system and 300 of them can go to activity centers held by the Municipality. But the "Camera del Lavoro" syndicate talks about an emergency with the old people's economic balance. "Their retirement accounts are not enough for them", says Fulvia Colombini of Cgil Milano. "Old people often need to ask for a down-payment on future pensions".