Ageing and Care

Population ageing is transforming society in many ways. It affects care provision, family relationships, working life, and overall wellbeing. 

This page brings together research conducted within the DEMOGRAPHY programme that examines, among other topics, care services, family relationships, and the role of technology in the everyday lives of the elderly. 

The research findings provide up-to-date and reliable knowledge to support decision-making and to inform a wider audience interested in demographic changes. They help to improve understanding of phenomena related to ageing. 

Publications

Aaltonen, K., & Vaalavuo, M. (2024). Financial burden of medicines in five Northern European countries: A decommodification perspective. Social Science & Medicine, 347, 116799.

Artamonova, A., & Gillespie, B. J. (2023). Geographic proximity to siblings in older adulthood. Demographic Research, 49.

Auvinen, T., Linnosmaa, I., & Rijken, M. (2024). Do people’s health, financial and social resources contribute to subjective wellbeing differently at the age of fifty than later in life? Wellbeing, Space and Society, 7, 100219.

Chapman, S., Danielsbacka, M., Tanskanen, A. O., Lahdenperä, M., Pettay, J., & Lummaa, V. (2023). Grandparental co-residence and grandchild survival: The role of resource competition in a pre-industrial population. Behavioral Ecology.

Chapman, S. N., & Lummaa, V. (2024). Grandmother effects over the Finnish demographic transition. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 6, e6.

Danielsbacka, M., Křenková, L., & Tanskanen, A. O. (2022). Grandparenting, health, and well-being: A systematic literature review. European Journal of Ageing, 19, 341–368.

Dei Bardi, L., Moretti, M., Cacciani, L., Korhonen, K., & Martikainen, P. (2025). Trends in formal care by age and time to death: The use of healthcare and care-home facilities in Finland between 2005 and 2018. European Journal of Public Health, ckaf061.

Helle, S., Tanskanen, A. O., Coall, D. A., & Danielsbacka, M. (2022). Matrilateral bias of grandparental investment in grandchildren persists despite the grandchildren’s adverse early life experiences. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1974), 20212574.

Helle, S., Tanskanen, A. O., Pettay, J. E., & Danielsbacka, M. (2022). The interplay of grandparental investment according to the survival status of other grandparent types. Scientific Reports, 12, 14390.

Hoppania, H. K., Karsio, O., Näre, L., Vaittinen, T., & Zechner, M. (2022). Financialization of eldercare in a Nordic welfare state. Journal of Social Policy.

Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., Arpino, B., Abuladze, L., Solé-Auró, A., & Danielsbacka, M. (2025). Changes in resources and volunteering: A longitudinal study of active engagement among older Europeans. The Gerontologist, 65(1), gnae049.

Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., Arpino, B., Solé-Auró, A., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Is transition to retirement associated with volunteering? Longitudinal evidence from Europe. Research on Aging.

Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., Kääriäinen, J., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Research note: Family structure and attitudes toward filial obligations among younger and middle-aged adults. Journal of Family Research, 36, 178–191.

Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Who are ‘multi-helpers’? Profile of older adults engaging in multiple help-giving activities. Population Ageing, 17, 579–597.

Hämäläinen, H., Tanskanen, A. O., Pettay, J., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Step-gap in upward support: The role of biological relatedness and childhood co-residence duration. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 79(4), gbad179.

Ilmakunnas, I., Uotinen, J., & Vaalavuo, M. (2024). Association between age and subjective economic hardship across the income distribution in Europe. Social Indicators Research.

Korpelainen, A., & Zechner, M. (2025). Ikääntyneiden parissa tehtävä taloussosiaalityö. Gerontologia, 39(2), 103–119.

Korhonen, K., Moustgaard, H., Murphy, M., & Martikainen, P. (2024). Trends in life expectancy in residential long-term care by sociodemographic position in 1999–2018: A multistate life table study of Finnish older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 1;79(7):gbae067.

Kääriäinen, J., Danielsbacka, M., & Tanskanen, A. (2024a). Attitudes towards filial responsibility in 11 European countries: Changes between 2001 and 2017. Finnish Yearbook of Population Research, 57, 81–106.

Kääriäinen, J., Tanskanen, A. O., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024b). Formal long-term care, individualisation and filial responsibility: A multi-level analysis of 21 European countries. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 44(13/14), 116-131.

Lagström, H., Lahdenperä, M., Ravyse, C., et al. (2024). Changes in food habits during the transition to retirement: The Whitehall II cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Li, P., & Myrskylä, M. (2023). Disparities in quality of life among European cancer survivors aged 50 and over. European Journal of Public Health, 33(2), ckad160.1610.

Lampi, A., & Sihto, T. (2022). Kotihoidon työntekijöiden teknologiaan liittyvät tunteet. Työelämän tutkimus.

Mäki, M., Hägglund, A. E., Rotkirch, A., Danielsbacka, M., & Tanskanen, A. O. (2025). Stable marital histories predict happiness and health across educational groups. European Journal of Population, 41, Article 12.

Nolan, A., Aaltonen, K., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). The effect of informal caregiving on depression: An asymmetric panel fixed-effects analysis of in-home and out-of-home caregivers across Europe. Journal of Aging & Social Policy.

Nevanto, M., Ilmarinen, K., & Kauppinen, T. M. (2024). Alueelliset erot väestön ikärakenteessa ja ikääntyneiden elinoloissa. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 89(1), 29-43.

Pettay, J. E., Coall, D. A., Danielsbacka, M., & Tanskanen, A. O. (2024). The role of mating effort and co-residence history in step-grandparental investment. Evolutionary Human Sciences.

Rotkirch, A., Hägglund, A., Tanskanen, A. O., & Danielsbacka, M. (2024). Partnership histories shape the grandparenting happiness bonus. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie.

Sakkeus, L., Schwanitz, K., Abuladze, L., & Rudissaar, U. (2023). Life-course factors and later life health in Eastern and Western Europe. Comparative Population Studies, 48, 231−260.

Salmensuu, O., Hyttinen-Huotari, V., Isotalo, J., Rijken, M., Linnosmaa, I., & Kaarakainen, M. (2025). Systematic review of effects of medication dispenser use by home-dwelling older adults. Nursing Research.

Salmensuu, O., & Sihto, T. (2024). Ikääntyvien kotihoidossa käytettävien teknologioiden oltava toimivia ja käyttäjäystävällisiä. SustAgeable Policy Brief, 02/2024.

Sharma, S., Martikainen, P., Myrskylä, M., Tarkiainen, L., & Suulamo, U. (2025). Gender and educational trends in lifetime risk, age at onset, expectancy, and survival with cardiovascular disease in Finland, 1996–2020. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 80(4), gbaf007.

Suulamo, U. K., Remes, H. M., Tarkiainen, L. H., & Martikainen, P. T. (2025). Long-term trends in mortality by living arrangements and the role of socioeconomic factors, Finland 1991–2020. European Journal of Public Health, 35, ckaf068.

Suulamo, U., Remes, H., Tarkiainen, L., Murphy, M., & Martikainen, P. (2024). Excess winter mortality in Finland, 1971–2019: A register-based study on long-term trends and effect modification by sociodemographic characteristics and pre-existing health conditions. BMJ Open, 14(2), e079471.

Tambellini, E., Danielsbacka, M., & Rotkirch, A. (2023). Do working and parenting trajectories influence retirement timing? Evidence from Spain, using a sequence analysis approach and focusing on women. Work, Aging and Retirement.

Tambellini, E., Danielsbacka, M., & Rotkirch, A. (2024). Both partnership history and current relationship quality are associated with life satisfaction in old age. Research on Aging.

Tanskanen, A., Hämäläinen, H., Arpino, B., & Danielsbacka, M. (2022). Prosocial activity in later life: Are informal help and care associated with volunteering and charity? Ageing and Society, 1–36.

Tanskanen, A. O., Helle, S., & Danielsbacka, M. (2023). Differential grandparental investment when maternal grandmothers are living versus deceased. Biology Letters, 19(5).

Toivanen, I., Lampi, A., Sihto, T., Oinas, T., & Taipale, S. (2024). Vanhustyöntekijöiden teknologiaan liittämät tunteet – avovastausten analysoiminen tekoälypohjaisen klusteroinnin keinoin. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen aikakauslehti, 61(3), 405–419.

Ukonaho, S., Chapman, S. N., Briga, M., & Lummaa, V. (2023). Grandmother presence improved grandchild survival against childhood infections but not vaccination coverage in historical Finns. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 290, 20230690.

Vabø, M., Zechner, M., Stranz, A., Graff, L., & Sigurðardóttir, S. H. (2022). Is Nordic eldercare facing a (new) collaborative turn? Social Policy & Administration, 56(4), 549–562.

Zechner, M. (2022). Economization of care for older adults. In R. Baikady, S. Sajid, J. Przeperski, V. Nadesan, I. Rezaul, & J. Gao (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Zechner, M., Ilmarinen, K., & Korpelainen, A. (2025). Eläkettä saavan hoitotuen hakijoiden avun tarpeet ja taloudellinen tilanne. Gerontologia, 39(1), 34–52.

Zechner, M., & Sihto, T. (2023). The concept of generational contract: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Social Welfare, 1–14.

Zilincikova, Z., Linares, I. P., Artamonova, A., Brandén, M., & Schnor, C. (2023). Residential choice following separation and widowhood in middle and later life in Belgium and Sweden. Population, Space and Place, e2709.

Åkerman, S., Nyqvist, F., Zechner, M., Nygård, M., & Olofsson, B. (2025). Using the Andersen Behavioural Model to explore formal support use among older informal carers in Finland and Sweden. International Journal of Social Welfare, 34(2), e70000.