The full-scale war has exacerbated the demographic, social and economic challenges associated with population ageing in Ukraine. In response to these challenges, a study was conducted to examine the needs, barriers and enabling conditions for the independent living of older people with and without disabilities in Dnipropetrovska and Kharkivska oblasts. The study understood independent living not as a person’s ability to live without any assistance, but as the opportunity to choose where and with whom to live, retain control over everyday routines, participate in community life, and receive the necessary support in accordance with their own choices.
The study shows that independent living among older people in Ukraine is sustained through a complex combination of personal resources, pensions and other income, family assistance, social and health services, mutual support among neighbours, and assistance from civil society and humanitarian organisations. At the same time, this support system remains insufficiently integrated, uneven and heavily dependent on family resources and the initiative of individual professionals.
The strongest risk factors are the combined effects of insufficient income, deteriorating health, functional difficulties, an inaccessible environment, security threats, and the absence of a person who can provide assistance. Particular attention should be given to people aged 70 and over, people with significant functional difficulties, IDPs, people living alone, and those residing in temporary or institutional settings.
Support is not the opposite of independence. On the contrary, timely, personalised and coordinated assistance is the essential condition that enables a person to preserve choice, privacy, safety and participation in community life. Independent-living policies should therefore focus not only on people who are already fully self-sufficient, but particularly on providing the necessary support to those whose functional abilities are gradually declining.