The study was commissioned by Aga Khan Foundation Portugal to a consortium composed of CEDRU – Centro de Estudos e Desenvolvimento Regional e Urbano, Lda and BCG – Boston Consulting Group. Its main objective is to help understand the trends and needs of the senior people in Portugal. “Senior population” is to be understood as “individuals 55 years old or above”, being this the target-population of the study in question. However, throughout the report the expression “elderly population” is frequently used and it refers to individuals 65 years old or above, as established by the National Institute of Statistics. In fact, the “senior” and “elderly” designations, although imultaneously mentioned, refer to different sample populations.

The study was conducted during the period from September 2007 and April 2008 by a team of 15 investigators/consultants: Carlos Ferreira as the General Coordinator and CEDRU team leader; Nuno Monteiro as BCG Team leader, and the following foreign researchers: Anthony Warnes from SISA – Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing / University of Sheffield, Allan Williams from ISET – The Institute for the Study of European Transformation and Klaus Friedrich from the Institut für Geographie / Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.