Social Programs

State institutions to aid the elderly have existed [blank] varying degrees since the time of the ancient Roman Empire. England in 1601 enacted the Poor Law, [blank] recognized the state's responsibility to the aged, although programs were carried out by local church parishes. An amendment to this law [blank] 1834 instituted workhouses for the poor and aged, and in 1925 England introduced social insurance for the aged [blank] by statistical evaluations. In 1940 programs for the aged came [blank] England's welfare state system. In 1880s Otto von Bismarck in Germany introduced old-age pensions whose model was followed by most other western European countries. The United States was one of the last countries to institute such programs. Not until the Social Security Act [blank] 1935 was formulated to relieve hardships caused by the Great Depression that the elderly were granted old-age pensions. For the most part, these state programs, [blank] alleviating some burdens of ageing, still do not bring older people to a level of income comparable to that of younger people.