Old People in “Social Diagnosis”. Project Objective and Subjective Quality of Life in 2000 and 2015

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to trace the changes in the condition of households of retirees, based on data from the study “Social Diagnosis”. Author presents state from years 2000 and 2015. It appears that during last 15 years this social group has benefited from the economic changes, and their so called “declared economic situation”, including the conditions of life changed significantly.
In addition, the aim of this article is to point out the importance of open access publishing data, and in particular an indication of the complementarity of research such as the “Social Diagnosis” in relation to research carried out by the Polish Central Statistical Office.
The results clearly confirm the improvement in the economic situation and quality of life of retirees in the last fifteen years. The well-being, as measured by the declared income and the degree of satisfaction of the needs fulfillment are relatively high.
The project “Social Diagnosis” was created to examine the conditions and quality of life of Polish society. From the outset, the authors have published not only the results but also the complete database. This gives other researchers invaluable opportunity to conduct their own analyzes, and at the same time gives credence to conclusions of the prof. J. Czapiński. The choice of variables and observation for further analysis, with such a large database is only a matter of imagination and needs. As an asset, “Diagnosis” must be regarded as its complementarity with the instruments of Central Statistical Office.