Silver economy as a response to demographic challenges in polish regions: realistic strategy or Utopia?

Abstract

The paper is motivated by concerns about challenges posed by the aging society problem and focuses on the silver economy (SE) as a social and economic concept developed in response to this challenge. Conducted analyses dealt with strategic planning of the SE development in Polish voivodeships. An original indicator showing the willingness of the self-government of a voivodeship to support SE development was worked out (IPWSSE). We also analyzed opinions of local authorities asked to assess the importance of the inclusion of the idea of the SE in the municipalities. The following hypotheses have been adopted: H1 – the higher the growth rate of the voivodeship population potential in terms of SE, the higher the indicator of the regional government policy willingness to support the SE; H2 – in voivodeships which reported higher (IPWSSE) indicator, municipalities interest in supporting the SE will also be higher. The research hypotheses were verified negatively.