the rigidity of conventional metrics and the need for their revision

UIDB/04627/2020 UIDP/04627/2020This article aims to discuss the scope and value of the conventional metrics used to assess and compare levels of ageing between different populations. The age brackets for classifying if the population is ageing or aged are typically based on chronological age and are very close to the stages of the economic tripartite life cycle: the school/education phase; the labour market participation phase; the retirement phase. Those conventional metrics produce distortions in capturing the levels of demographic ageing. If the change in the age structure is rooted in social development, not in a social crisis, having more people in older ages should be related to that. Living longer, on average, does not only mean living more years but also a change in people's social profile, which the usual metrics for measuring ageing do not capture. Because of the central place that demographic ageing occupies in the framework of social, political and scientific reflection on the present and future of societies, Demographic Science should contribute with new metrics reflecting the real social improvements in populations age structures. This reflection supports the need to undertake a critical analysis of the way demographic ageing has usually been presented; stresses the need to advance ageing metrics that match societies' development by considering the life expectancy; and presents a new indicator for measurement demographic ageing that compares what we observe with what we can expect from the age structure at any given mortality level.publishersversionpublishe

does ageing matter?

UIDB/04627/2020 UIDP/04627/2020A progressively ageing population was the landscape that the Covid-19 epidemic encountered when it struck the world in 2020. Given the relationship between COVID-19 and age, it would be logical to deduce that demographic ageing is a sufficient predictor of the impact of this virus on populations. Focusing on European Countries – territory with an exceptionally high population ageing level and where the fatal incidence of the virus has been particularly significant – we conclude that demographic ageing is not a predictor of the impact of this virus on populations. The correlation coefficients, for 2020, between the percentages of people aged 65 or more and the COVID-19 mortality rates per 1 million inhabitants or between the “variation life expectancy at age 65, 2020-2019” and the “percentage of people aged 65 or more” were very weak. Individual age matters for the mortality rate of Covid-19, but population age (inside EU 2020) does not.publishersversionpublishe

Cenários para 2030: Projecções 2030 e o futuro

A população não se fixa no tempo, tem movimento, está em permanente alteração, vai adquirindo novas configurações. Tentar prever a população possível no futuro permite às pessoas conhecerem-se melhor e compreenderem as implicações das suas decisões, pois o futuro também se constrói. E daí este exercício de elaboração de cenários demográficos prospectivos para Portugal até 2030. Através deles pretende-se não só antecipar o impacto de algumas alternativas possíveis e que dizem respeito aos comportamentos demográficos, como também trazer para o presente algumas certezas sobre o futuro, para uma mais consciente adaptação da sociedade ao curso dos factos. Pretende-se, assim, com estes resultados, dar elementos para uma mais sustentada reflexão e uma mais informada discussão sobre as tendências populacionais em curso. A partir da utilização de metodologias prospectivas sólidas (método das componentes por coortes), apresentam-se três cenários. As diversas características dos cenários previstos para 2030 são exclusivamente devidas às diferentes hipóteses em que se basearam e que apenas têm em conta a fecundidade e a esperança de vida à nascença

Demographic Ageing in COVID-19 Phase

UIDB/04627/2020 UIDP/04627/2020De momento, o que sabemos sobre as características sociodemográficas das populações mais expostas à COVID-19 é ainda muito insuficiente. Os dados são escassos e, por vezes, pouco consistentes. Como tal, as análises e possíveis ilações devem, nesta fase, ser muito cautelosas. Há, porém, uma ideia que parece ganhar destaque no quadro desta evolução: o envelhecimento demográfico enquanto aliado da COVID-19. Mais do que encontrar respostas definitivas sobre o assunto, esta reflexão pretende colocar em perspectiva essa ideia, tendo por base os dados disponibilizados publicamente pela Direcção Geral da Saúde (DGS) e pela OMS até à data de 26 de Abril de 2020.publishersversionpublishe

contrastes entre os concelhos do continente

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A vulgarização estatística das mortes em Portugal

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a propósito da evolução recente do número de nascimentos

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Quality assessment of the services delivered by a court, based on the perceptions of users, magistrates, and court officials

This paper aims to measure the quality of the services delivered by a court by assessing the satisfaction of court users and service providers, i.e., magistrates and court officials. For that purpose, a case study was carried out and data were collected by means of a questionnaire based on the SERVPERF instrument, in which perceived service quality is measured, considering court users, magistrates, and court officials’ perceptions of post-service performance. One hundred and fifty-eight questionnaires were successfully returned. An in-depth interview was later conducted to the court administrator to gain a richer understanding of the results achieved and ask follow-up questions. Overall, findings revealed that court users, magistrates, and court officials clearly have a positive view of the services provided, although improvement is needed, particularly in the court’s facilities and technological equipment. The current research sheds some light on the potentialities and difficulties of assessing service quality in the judiciary and contributes to the validation of the SERVPERF instrument in this context

Direct costs of COVID-19 inpatient admissions at a University Tertiary Care Centre

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