Facing the New Challenges of an Ageing World

What happens when there are no longer enough young people to pay for the demands on a country’s social security system as the ranks of the elderly grow? Should young adults be forced to care for their grandparents? And who should be responsible for covering the costs of treating chronic health conditions typical among older people? These are just some of the difficult questions governments as diverse as Finland and China are grappling with as they look for innovative ways to cope with their graying populations.

Speaking at an event co-organized by UNFPA, the Government of Finland and HelpAge International, experts on ageing and senior citizens themselves called for greater effort by governments and the international community to urgently address the needs of the elderly, who are too often marginalized, poor and lack access to basic services.

Ageing is an unprecedented global trend

Here’s where 759 million older people live:

Click graphic to expand and view pie chart.

The number of persons aged 60 and over has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. In 1980, there were 378 million people in the world aged 60 or above. Now 30 years later, that figure has doubled to 759 million, and it is projected to rise to 2 billion by 2050, according to a United Nations draft report, Current status of the social situation, well-being, participation in development and rights of older persons worldwide .

Although the older population is growing in all parts of the world, most of the increase is taking place in developing countries. On average, 29 million older persons will be added to the world’s population each year between 2010 and 2025, and over 80 per cent of those will be added in the less developed regions. As a result, the share of the world’s older population residing in the less developed regions will increase from 65 per cent in 2010 to about 80 per cent by the year 2050.

Very little is known about ageing in developing countries, according to Insights on Ageing, by HelpAge International. And while plenty of data and analysis are available on population ageing in general, information about the lives and situations of older persons are strikingly lacking.

Assessing government policies to address ageing

HelpAge International, in cooperation with UNFPA’s Population and Development Branch, completed a study in 2010 to assessing government action on ageing since 2002. Key findings show that in developing countries, progress has been made, particularly in areas of social protection and healthcare, by mainstreaming older people’s needs into sectoral policy. Other areas such as emergency situations, education and age-friendly environments, however, often lack any policy provisions specifically referring to older people. Even if addressed by national policies on ageing, resources and, hence, implementation are often lacking to actually improve older people’s lives, the study showed.

The event was organized to coincide with the annual meeting of the annual Commission for Social Development. Some of the themes discussed the event will be featured in a State of the World’s Older Persons report, which will be published in 2012. Ageing and the challenges it presents to governments, communities and individuals will also be one of the demographic trends discussed in UNFPA’s 2011 State of World Population report, which will address various aspects of world population soon reaching the 7 billion milestone.