A study released today by the World Labour Organisation has concluded that to be old and in need of care in Portugal is not a good option.
Portugal is the country in Europe where the elderly are most marginalised, have the least professional care dedicated to them and certainly have the lowest allocated of money for their care and comfort.
The study, sporting the snappy title - "Long-term care and protection for older persons: A review of coverage deficits in 46 countries" indicates that Portugal has 0.4 formal 'care workers' for every 100 of its senior citizens. By comparison, France has 1.1, Spain 2.9 and Norway 17.1.
These figures mean that even in developed European countries such as Ireland, France, Slovakia and Portugal, between 57% and over 90% of people over 65 do not have access to a care services.
The 90.4% figure, the highest number, refers to Portugal while pensioners in Estonia, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have 100% coverage.
Portugal, which has the highest percentage of the world's elderly, devotes just 0.1% of its GDP on the care of its pensioners, the lowest value in those European countries surveyed, compared to the Netherlands and Denmark which spend 2.3% and 2.2% of their GDPs on the protection of their elderly.
Another way of looking at the figures is the amount spent per head with each Norwegian paying $8,000 to the cost of continued quality care. Each Portuguese contributed $136.
"We found in all regions, countries where between 75% and 100% of the population is excluded from access to care due to lack of financial resources," the report said, putting Portugal, alongside Ghana, Chile and Slovakia.
While almost half of the world's elderly are not protected by law or have access to continued support, the most generous countries are in Europe.
