

Ageing in place: where is best? Village or city?
-
1In Spain, of the total of people aged over 65 years (1,596,675 people), 20.1% reside in homes that suffer from extreme residential vulnerability, defined by an accumulation of serious problems in the dwelling.
-
2Of the total number of elderly people in a situation of extreme residential vulnerability (592,366 personas), 37.1% live in medium-sized towns or cities (10,000 to 100,000 inhabitants).
-
3The most serious housing problems are: having no toilet inside the dwelling, having no running water, lack of a public sewage system and living in buildings that are run-down.
-
4The most common housing problems are lack of accessibility and lack of heating.
There is a higher probability of finding elderly people in a situation of extreme residential vulnerability in municipalities with between 20,001 and 50,000 inhabitants firstly; in municipalities with between 50,001 and 100,000 inhabitants secondly, and lastly, in municipalities of between 10,001 and 20,000 inhabitants. The extremes (living in a village with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, but especially in the smallest villages, or alternatively in a city with over 500,000 inhabitants), are those that offer the greatest protection to elderly people. Therefore, less vulnerability is suffered by elderly people who live in very small or very large municipalities.