Romania has entered a period of rapid and dramatic population aging. Older Romanians are expected to make up more than 30% of the total population by 2050. Yet, gerontological research is sparse and the few studies of older Romanians that exist are not well used by policy makers. Much of the research is descriptive and focused on needs assessments. Most databases created from studies of older adults are not available for secondary analysis, nor is Romania among the countries included in the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe. The pension and health insurance systems and the system of social welfare services address the specific needs of older Romanians, but comparing the social protection systems in the European Union with those in Romania suggests the existence of a development lag. The relevant legislation exists but there are still issues regarding the implementation of specially developed social services for older persons. As a result, there are major inadequacies in the organization of the social service system: too few public services, insufficient budget funds, insufficient collaboration between public and private services, and frequently overlapping services.

The paper examines the relation between religiosity and cognitive appraisal of the subjective well-being of the Central and Eastern European's elderly population. The first part of the paper is dedicated to examining of the scientific literature. In the second part, the authors explore the data basis corresponding to the 6th wave of World Value Survey. The authors use the heterogeneous correlation and the multi-linear regression analysis in order to explain the relation between religiosity and subjective well-being of the old aged. Our results suggest that in the case of the Central Eastern European elderly satisfaction with life is mostly influenced by health and income. It is likely that for Central and Eastern European's elders religious practices do not sufficiently influence their life satisfaction.

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