Quality of Life in Ageing Societies: Italy, Portugal, and Turkey.

The aim of this study was to compare and analyze the quality of life of the elderly in three aging countries: Italy, Portugal, and Turkey. This was done by using data provided by the European Quality of Life Survey completed in 2004. By doing so, we could then operationalize the conditions of the elderly in Turkey who have a rapid aging process with the help of other countries that have different aging experiences. Analysis has shown that while Italy, Portugal, and Turkey denote similarity on issues such as the ratio of the nuclear families made up of couples and the educational levels of the elderly, there are significant variations on other factors such as life satisfaction, income level, health, accessing material sources, and social contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]