Abstract
Demographic aging is often referred to as one of the reasons for the instability of socio-economic systems, regardless of the fact that it is a consequence of the natural development of society as a result of improving the health status of the population and generally increasing the quality of human life. The beginning of which can be found in the 18th century.
Standard indicators used to quantify the aging of population, however, does not reflect this fact, and for this reason their comparison over time with regard to significant changes in the mortality and population health is at least problematic. The aim of the paper is not only to present prospective characteristics but also to present the results based on the analysis of regional differentiation.
The results show that the development of standard and prospective characteristics is quite different and in some cases even does not follow the same trend. The application of prospective characteristics at NUTS2 level has thus made it possible to identify other potentially endangered regions as a result of demographic aging, which, according to standard indicators, appeared to be relatively young.
Using this concept could thus reduce government spending on pensions in countries with a high life expectancy and also help countries target those who really need support. Another benefit is the fact that besides other sophisticated mathematical methods, the calculation of indicators and the interpretation of results based on this concept is still understandable to the general public, which increases its usefulness, for example, in the practice of the public sector.