The free social helpline Elderly Line - 0800 460 001, operated since 2015 by the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation, registered 4,425 calls from across the country in the first half of this year.

Of these, 830 people - seniors and their relatives - called for the first time and around 520 recurring callers contacted the service again for information, social counselling, practical support or emotional support, according to a release of the Foundation sent to AGERPRES on Monday.

Compared with the same period last year, 2026 shows a stronger focus on concrete and urgent social needs. While in the first half of 2025 interest in active living activities and digital education had ranked among the top requests, in 2026 essential needs are back in focus: information, care, material assistance and emotional support.

The need for useful, verified information adapted to each elderly person's situation remains in first place, with 309 seniors receiving various information in the first six months of the year about social services, rights, institutions, procedures, resources available in the community or solutions for specific situations.

The need for care and support related to the level of dependency ranks second, reported by 209 callers. Seniors or their relatives received information about home care, residential homes for elderly people, medical and social services, mobility support or institutionalisation procedures.

Requests for financial and material support rank third, with 108 callers being directed to resources for food, hygiene products, social vouchers, emergency aid or other forms of support available through local institutions and non-governmental organisations.

In the first half of the year, 60% of new callers were women and 40% were men.

Most callers are in the 70-80 age group, which accounts for 32% of all new callers. They are followed by people aged between 50 and 60, many of whom are in vulnerable situations or calling as relatives of elderly people, seniors aged between 80 and 90, at 15%, those aged 65 to 70, at 14%, while 13% exclusively represent the category of relatives under the age of 50.

Established in 2015 in response to the increasingly acute issue of population ageing, Elderly Line - a social service licensed by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity - maps and addresses the needs faced by Romania's seniors, based on requests expressed by elderly people from all parts of the country. In almost 11 years of operation, 121,671 phone calls have been handled, involving 23,122 unique beneficiaries, elderly people who received necessary information, social counselling, guidance and emotional support. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Popescu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)