Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Sample Population

Abstract

This is the first chapter of Part III ‘Prevalence Of Economic Vulnerability Among Swiss Pensioners’ that presents a descriptive analysis of our sample population. It provides the background for more complex multivariate analyses by systematically exploring the relationship between a series of potential explanatory variables and the three dependent measures of economic vulnerability: Monthly income below CHF 2’400.- (Objective Measure/Income Poverty), Difficulties in making ends meet with monthly income (Self-Assessed Measure/Economic Strain) and Worries about not having enough money for current expenses (Perceived Measure/Economic Stress). The socio-demographic characteristics analyzed in this chapter have been selected to provide a general idea of the social situation, including the social standing, of the surveyed population by taking into account age and sex. The variables include marital status, educational attainment and the last pre-retirement socio-professional category of the household.