In total, almost 700 residents between the ages of 60 and 103 were interviewed. About fifty young seniors took the surveys, asking questions about services, mobility and care, among other things.
Sonja Hornbach is a pollster at the senior advisory council: “What I remember is all the people who still live at home with two people and have a pension and are just barely making ends meet. And yet they need help and don’t know where to turn.”
One in three elderly people has difficulty reaching the end of the month financially.
“We see that the financial situation is better than 9 years ago,” says Natacha Waldmann, councilor for senior policy in Ostend.
“We notice that this is due to many elderly people from within the country moving. It remains a point of attention. Just like loneliness. Many people come with a partner with a domestic network, if that disappears it is difficult to maintain a network.”
Three quarters of Ostend’s elderly people travel on foot, one in three by bicycle. The bus and tram are also popular means of transport.