The availability of high technology designed to preserve human life, places medical practitioners in a set of ethical dilemmas. In particular the use of Intensive Care Units to sustain acutely seriously ill elderly people is a matter of widespread debate. An examination of the medical research literature suggests that such interventions are largely successful and wished for by the patient, but the quality of surviving life is for some, unacceptable. It is concluded that the maintance of life should remain the predominant rule, but that where patient and clinical judgement indicates it, death should be accepted as the natural course.

The number of children women have is a critical determinant of their future wellbeing. Often, adult children confer some protection against adverse conditions in their older ages. In many sub-Saharan African societies, it is expected that older women who typically have had many children, will benefit from their investment in children. Yet it is unclear if this is really the case. Using data from the 10 per cent micro-sample of the 2002 Senegalese Population and Housing Census, this study investigates the effect of the childbearing histories of older women (aged 60–85) on the likelihood that their households experienced food insecurity in the past year. Women who had had no children and those who had ever had two or more, were not significantly different from those who had had five or more – only those who had had one child were adversely affected. Based on principles of intergenerational altruism and moral obligation, I expected that food insecurity would decrease with increases in the number of surviving children. This pattern was generally found. However, among women in the bottom 40 per cent of the wealth distribution, the relationship was, at best, weak with respect to all of the fertility variables (children ever had, living, co-resident). The benefits of high fertility seem to accrue to relatively richer women – those in the top 60 per cent of the wealth distribution. Yet among these richer women, having fewer than three children and co-resident adult children were significant risk factors of food insecurity.

Since European Union (EU) enlargement in 2003, labour migration from East to West and South to North has increased. It is to be expected that a share of these workers will want to retire in their host countries. According to the academic literature, EU legislation protects such mobility well by allowing the transfer of rights accrued in any EU country to another. However, such research has focused on legislation, not outcomes. We know little about how migration will affect the financial status of retired migrants in their host country and their ability to sustain a life there, should they stay after retirement. Using migration, wage and pension policy data (Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), this paper projects the post-retirement incomes of a range of hypothetical EU migrants, selected in relation to the most common migratory flows since 2003. After having worked in their home countries (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy) for at least ten years, these people move to richer countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom) and work there for at least 30 years. To determine whether they can remain settled after decades of labour force participation in the host country, the paper adds their pension entitlements from home and host countries and compares this income with the relative poverty line of the host countries. This shows that good portability of entitlements matters little when these are very low because of a large wage gap between home and host country. Thus, after at least 30 years of enjoying all citizenship rights as workers, most of these individuals are projected to receive incomes below the relative poverty line of their host countries and thus experience a sharp drop in this status. Their citizenship is diminished. The paper concludes by considering policies that could avoid such an outcome.

Thailand has been severely affected by AIDS/HIV. The epidemic has undermined the health of the population of working age, placing stress on intergenerational relations and threatening the social fabric. Older people in families affected by the disease, although not the main victims, have experienced major changes in relationships with their adult children and grandchildren. However, the availability of antiretrovirals has transformed HIV infection from a lethal to a chronic disease. Intergenerational relationships are analysed with data from a quantitative survey of HIV-infected adults currently receiving antiretroviral treatment in Northern Thailand. The introduction of antiretroviral treatment has eased the pressure on families. Where HIV-infected adults are more dependent on their older parents, it is because they are single and childless or single parents. While ageing parents remain a source of support for their adult children, the introduction of antiretroviral treatment has radically changed the prospects for HIV-infected adults and their regained health allows them to work, take care of their family and fulfil their filial duties as expected in Thai society. If Thailand's original aim in introducing health policies in this area was to curtail the HIV epidemic, its positive impact on intergenerational relations is an additional benefit.

Older adults and baby boomers have been more opposed than supportive of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but what about older adults living in aged communities? The aged community is a social context that is important for understanding individuals' political attitudes and behaviours. We know that social contexts often constrain the information available within the community. Also recent work indicates that this happens with the aged social context as well. Older adults living among concentrations of their peers are more politically knowledgeable than older adults without the same neighbourhood context. I hypothesise that older adults living in aged communities will be more supportive of the ACA than their peers without the same context because they know more about the ACA and its age-related benefits. To test this hypothesis, I use data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Studies for the years 2009–2012 and assess whether the aged context has had an impact on residents' attitudes towards health-care reform, the ACA, specifically. I find that older residents of aged communities are more likely to report supportive attitudes in 2010 and 2012 than older residents of communities without a significant older adult presence. There is no statistically significant aged context effect in 2009 and 2011.

This article explores subjective perceptions of retirement in France, using original quantitative data on the customers of a not-for-profit insurance company. The sample contains individuals aged 40–84, who are either in the labour force (N = 923) or retired (N = 705). Perceptions of retirement are measured using closed questions on views of the retirement transition (these views can be positive, negative or neutral) and definitions of retirement (retirement can be interpreted as a period of freedom, boredom, greater risk of precariousness, etc.). Using a number of different social indicators, we examine whether differences in social conditions translate into heterogeneous perceptions. We also investigate whether social differences in perceptions fade away with increasing age. Both working-age individuals and retirees generally have a positive view of the retirement transition and often define retirement as a period of freedom. Perceptions of retirement are shaped by social conditions: a higher level of education and income, greater wealth, better health and stronger social involvement go hand in hand with rosier perceptions. Moreover, we uncover a strengthening of this social gradient with increasing age. Finally, perceptions are positively correlated with satisfaction in various domains, for retirees.