The Challenges of Demographic Transition. Network Analysis to Assess Spatial Accessibility to the Emergency Health System

The demography in Europe is in a stagnant phase, correlated to low fertility and mortality rates, typical of a modern and economically advanced society. Italy is one of the European countries with the oldest population, recording the highest median age of the population in 2022 (48 years). The “silver economy”, i.e. the consumer economy that characterizes the population of 50–65-year-olds, up to the over 65s, needs specific services. In this sense, progressive demographic changes also require a renewed public governance, especially in terms of spatial accessibility of the emergency health system. In this framework, the study applies Network Analysis Technique to evaluate the spatial distribution of the population – with a particular focus on the over 65 population - and the relative accessibility to the network of the health emergency services on a regional scale. The insular context of the Sardinia Region (Italy) represents an interesting case study due to the significant silver population and the related multipolar spatial distribution in the 377 municipalities, affected by peripherality and marginality issues. The manuscript, which is part of the e.INS project, provides useful information and approaches to support the construction of a regional MaaS solution to improve the accessibility to the emergency health system.