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European patterns of intergenerational financial and time transfers

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Abstract

The ageing of the European population is expected to strongly influence both the structure of family relations and the pattern of private transfers between generations. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe conducted from the perspective of adults aged 50 and above in ten European countries, we provide an analysis of financial and time transfers, either given or received. Our results show that cash gifts mainly flow to the younger generations, while time transfers are directed both upwards and downwards. When comparing the countries, we find some remarkable similarity in the pattern of transfers, although there are inter-country differences. These differences sometimes follow the expected north-south European gradient, but not always. The results suggest that the social and demographic transformations currently taking place in Europe often have contradictory and paradoxical effects upon the nature of intergenerational exchanges.

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Notes

  1. In this paper, we examine inter-country variations in transfers. It should be noted that a small part of the inter-country variation may be due to different sample designs within countries

  2. See note at bottom of Table 5 for details on how the family generational structure variable was created

  3. Reasons are only recorded for financial transfers in SHARE

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions on a previous draft. This paper uses data from the early release 1 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) 2004. This release is preliminary and may contain errors that will be corrected in later releases. The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th framework programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic programme Quality of Life programme area). Additional funding came from the US National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, Y1-AG- 4553-01 and OGHA 04-064). Data collection in Austria (through the Austrian Science Foundation, FWF), Belgium (through the Belgian Science Policy Administration) and Switzerland (through BBW/OFES/UFES) was nationally funded. The SHARE data set is introduced in Börsch-Supan et al. (2005); methodological details are contained in Börsch-Supan and Jürges (2005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Caisse Nationale d‘Assurance Vieillesse, Paris, France

    Claudine Attias-Donfut

  2. Young Foundation, London and CNAV, Paris, France

    Jim Ogg

  3. LEN, Faculté des Sciences Economiques, Université de Nantes, Paris, France

    François-Charles Wolff

  4. CNAV and INED, Paris, France

    François-Charles Wolff

Authors
  1. Claudine Attias-Donfut
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  2. Jim Ogg
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  3. François-Charles Wolff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudine Attias-Donfut.

Appendix

Appendix

Descriptive statistics of the sample

Country

Sweden

Denmark

Netherlands

Germany

Switzerland

Austria

France

Italy

Spain

Greece

All

Characteristics of the respondents

 Female (%)

52.9

50.2

55.1

51.7

47.3

58.2

54.1

54.2

58.7

58.3

55.3

 Age (mean)

  Less than 55

20.4

26.0

25.5

23.7

25.7

18.3

25.6

17.3

20.9

26.5

22.6

  From 55 to 64

36.1

33.3

36.9

33.9

32.3

36.8

28.2

39.1

27.7

28.1

30.2

  From 65 to 74

23.9

20.8

22.9

27.0

22.8

27.2

25.4

29.1

28.9

26.3

25.7

  75 and more

19.7

19.9

14.6

15.5

19.2

17.7

20.9

14.6

22.5

19.1

21.6

 Family size

  Live alone

36.9

35.9

30.4

33.8

27.6

36.1

28.0

23.4

21.0

31.5

28.7

  Live in couple only

48.7

45.8

48.6

43.5

52.0

37.7

42.5

31.0

27.5

32.4

38.8

  Live with other family members

14.4

18.3

21.0

22.7

20.3

26.2

29.5

45.6

51.5

36.0

32.6

 Family generational structure

  1 generation

7.0

9.0

8.3

11.8

11.1

13.5

11.0

11.1

11.2

8.2

12.2

  Older, 2 generations

13.2

12.1

16.2

17.8

19.6

15.0

11.1

20.6

15.4

19.9

15.7

  Older, 3 generations

50.7

50.0

48.7

46.7

40.6

50.7

45.3

45.4

52.2

42.4

47.3

  Pivot

26.8

25.8

23.8

19.2

24.3

17.9

29.3

20.4

18.6

25.9

21.4

  Childless, 2 generations

2.3

3.1

3.1

4.5

4.3

2.9

3.4

2.6

2.6

3.6

3.4

 Self-reported health

  Very good

35.8

36.7

26.1

16.0

36.8

24.0

17.9

13.8

13.8

25.6

17.7

  Good

37.7

31.8

43.8

41.0

44.6

39.3

43.7

37.0

37.9

39.6

39.9

  Fair

19.2

23.3

24.4

31.5

14.8

28.0

27.6

36.8

32.6

26.8

30.9

  Bad or very bad

7.2

8.2

5.7

11.5

3.8

8.7

10.6

12.3

15.8

8.0

11.6

 Years of education (mean)

10.4

12.7

11.1

13.6

12.3

11.3

8.3

7.1

5.6

8.6

9.7

 Median household income

33,368

30,829

38,832

28,145

37,846

23,593

29,934

22,719

16,712

15,245

23,593

  1. Source: SHARE 2004, release 1 (weighted results); n = 22,777

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Attias-Donfut, C., Ogg, J. & Wolff, FC. European patterns of intergenerational financial and time transfers. Eur J Ageing 2, 161–173 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-005-0008-7

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