Current trends in social welfare policies toward the older people in the Baltic and Nordic countries: an explorative study

This article reviews welfare policy arrangements developed in the Baltic and Nordic countries to address the problems of aging. The findings show that after almost thirty years of redesigning social policy and welfare systems in the Baltic countries, senior citizens remain in a precarious situation. As expected, the Nordic countries are yet superior in terms of benefits and services. The trend toward marketization and re-familialization of elderly care, and ‘go towards the EU average’ in public expenditures is, however, also identified in the Nordic countries. In the Baltic states, in contrast, the ‘go towards the EU average’ indicates an increase in public social expenditure directed toward aging.