The Ageing and Development Report - Poverty, Independence and the World's Older People

THIS REPORT, SUPPORTED by Help Age International, covers many of the issues of development and how they are experienced by older people. The world’s demographic profile is changing, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years old is increasing more rapidly than in any previous era and most of the world’s older people live in low and middle income countries. This book points out that older people are consistently among the poorest, since those who have lived their lives in poverty cannot accumulate savings to cushion a less productive time.

Ageing is also an increasingly female experience since women outlive men in nearly all countries, rich and poor. This is a factor which can exacerbate poverty due to the low status of widows in many cultures. Many older people, however, are resourceful survivors and contribute to
the well-being of their families and communities in ways which are largely unrecognized by policy makers, yet they are often stereotyped as passive or helpless and a burden. The great enemy of independence and autonomy in old age is not changing family or community values but poverty; the majority of older people in most countries live in their own homes, connected with their families and communities. However, in many countries, rapid urbanization and migration for work have significantly altered these relationships, stretching resources and leaving the
most vulnerable exposed. Changing demographic patterns also have an impact as birth rates drop, meaning that care of older parents will fall to fewer children in the future.

Many people enter old age in a poor state of health as a result of lifelong deprivation. In industrialized countries, technical advances in medicine have allowed a relatively disease-free old age but, in poorer countries, chronic illness is endemic, further restricting economic activity in the older
members of a population, and exacerbating poverty since many older people have no choice but to work in order to support themselves or families.

This book presents detailed information in four parts. Part I gives a general introduction to ageing and development. Part II gives details of the state of the world’s older people. Part III reviews the national policies on ageing and older people, giving their status in 46 countries as well as
presenting numerous charts and graphs showing facts, figures and trends; finally, Part IV is a brief reference section containing United Nations principles for older persons and information on Help Age International. The information is interspersed with boxes containing case studies and quotes from older people around the world. The majority of the examples are from Southern countries but chapters also cover the issues of conflict and humanitarian assistance and the transitional economies of Eastern and Central Europe.