The International Day of Older People: what should we be celebrating?

On 1 October, people around the world will be marking the International Day of Older People. The United Nations created this annual event in 1991 to celebrate the contributions and achievements of people in later life.  So what should we be celebrating?

Well, I think the most obvious achievement is that people in some of the poorest countries in the world are actually reaching old age. Low life expectancy figures mask the fact that there are millions of older people in many of the poorest countries in the world. People aged 60 and over represent almost 11 per cent of the total world population; and by 2050, the number is predicted to rise to 19 per cent.  The most rapid increase in the 60+ population is occurring in the developing world. This will mean there will be more older people in the world than children for the first time in history.

This is a huge cause for celebration because it demonstrates that improvements in healthcare, hygiene, water quality, sanitation and education are actually paying off and helping us to live longer. And living longer is an achievement.

But growing old is not always easy. Older people are among the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the world: they are often amongst the poorest of the poor.  100 million of them live on less than one dollar (60 pence) a day.  Astonishingly, only 5% of people in later life have access to a pension.  Many have to continue working until the day they die.  And many have to work in poorly paid, unsafe and irregular work.

So what should we celebrate?

We should celebrate when a country introduces a pension. We know that in households containing a grandmother in receipt of a pension, the benefit is felt across the family.  In Brazil, children in such households are up to 3 cm taller, due to the improved diet they receive.

However, just because a pension exists, it doesn’t mean that an older person can get one. Knowing about it is half the challenge and proving that they are entitled is the other half. Lack of official documents and ID cards is a problem many older people face. Age UK and HelpAge International campaign for pensions in developing countries, raise awareness about them and help older people to access them.

We should also celebrate the activism and engagement of older people themselves. Over 2,400 Older People’s Associations (OPAs) have been formed across the world. These OPAs are made up of active, older people who are demanding that their voice be heard.  They are not passive recipients of aid.  They are active agents of change.

In Tete, Mozambique, Juliano is the President of his local OPA and Podiria is in charge of the Livestock Committee.  Podiria assesses which of the older people in the community are most in need.  That person is given a couple of goats.  When the goats produce a kid, they pass it on to the OPA, so it can be given to another older person.  The OPA also runs a community welfare fund, giving loans or donations to the most vulnerable people, whatever their age.  Older people are helping themselves and others.

The one unifying experience most of us will hopefully share is ageing. We’re getting really good at it and we should expect a lot more of it in the years to come.

So we have a choice: we can put our heads in the sand and pretend this isn’t happening or embrace the challenges and opportunities that await us.

If there is only one thing we are going to celebrate on 1 October, let us celebrate the fact that many millions of people in developing countries have reached later life.

Age UK works with its sister organisation, HelpAge International, to support over 1.3 million older people and their dependants in over 40 developing countries

Together we run sponsorship schemes for older people  www.sponsoragrandparent.org and www.raiseagrandchild.org

For further information on our international work, please visit www.ageuk.org.uk/international
For info on our sister organisation, visit www.helpage.org

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• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6PJKFFYWUVWWG6ATRERADJS7RM Helena

  As one of those who are now described as elderly I would say that yes we should celebrate that people throughout the world are living a bit longer but more needs to be done to ensure that they all have a decent quality to their lives.

• callmecocainedave

  You judge a society on how they treat the their old and young people, and this country although not the worst fails miserably, we should be so ashamed.

• 60boy

  If our own country is anything to go by, I doubt our politicians are celebrating. They seem more likely to bring in euthanasia, that is after they’ve stolen our savings by allowing inflation and low interest rates to do their worst.
  I’m only 61 but have a prostate problem which has meant I’ve waited weeks, so far, for an operation. Had I been younger and a worker I’d have had it done by now. As you say, getting old isn’t easy anywhere in the world, here included.

• http://twitter.com/michaelcronogue Michael Cronogue

  International Day of Older People on October 01st celebrates achievements of older people. For some in Mr Cameron’s Britain, keeping body and soul together can be considered an achievement!

• http://truenewsuk.blogspot.com/ sarntcrip

  CHANGES TO dISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE WILL ADVERSLEY AFFECT MANY ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PROPOSALS TO SCRAP DLA AND REPLACE IT WITHPIPS OR PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENTS WHICH WILL BE LOWER IS YET ANOTHER WAYOF PUNISHING THE WEAKEST IN SOCIETY TO PAY FOR THE ERRORS OFBANKERS,WHICH LED TO THE RECESSION AND A HUGEDEBT  FORT THE BAIL OUT WHICH THEY HAVE YET TO PAY BACK

• MoodyKitty

  It is an unfortunate fact that when we become aged and loose independence, we become a burden on society…how will society cope? only time will tell.
  The young need their nurseries, schools and childcare vouchers etc, the elderly need pensions, shelter and care..not to mention NHS treatment more than most…limited resources will lead to tough decisions I fear. 

• independent15

  (“Sort by oldest first”? how does that work, then?)
  Anyway, I do think that if there are more people reaching 60 in developing countries, that is interesting. Any statistical relation to child mortality in a country?
  Oh, and by the way: the older you are the more likely you are to be a woman.

• http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ Firozali A.Mulla

  Jude. I ahve no regrets that I lived this long but read on how politicians show two teeth one for eating one for biting.I never knew that the politicians had a sense a humor but I am happy that they have, and no action read on. Gitmo is still open is it not? Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the start of his presidential campaign, Bill Clinton on Saturday offered a vigorous defense of President Barack Obama against what he called the same anti-government stances he faced during his campaign and two terms in office. The former president told a crowd of about 5,000 people outside the Old State House Museum in downtown Little Rock, the same spot where he announced his White House bid in 1991, that Obama faces a different set of challenges but is battling the same questions about the role of government in growing the economy. “Underlying those challenges is the same old debate about whether government is the problem or whether we need smart government and a changing economy working together to create the opportunities of tomorrow,” Clinton told the crowd, which was flooded with old campaign signs for him or his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost to Obama in 2008’s Democratic nominating contest. The speech was the centerpiece of a weekend commemorating Clinton’s presidential announcement, but it also offered plenty of parallels between his presidency and Obama’s, including opposition on multiple fronts from Republicans. “There’s not a single example on our planet, not one, where an anti-government strategy has produced a vibrant economy with strong and broad-based growth and prosperity,” Clinton said. Clinton said Obama has offered plans to stimulate the economy, reduce the long-term debt and address the housing crisis, and it’s now up to Congress “to act on those plans, and if they don’t like them, then come up with better ideas.” Holding hands with Hillary Clinton, the former president arrived at the stage to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” the song that became the anthem of his 1992 presidential bid. The weekend’s events included the dedication Friday of a $10.5 million pedestrian bridge at his presidential library. Clinton joked that when he decided to run for president, his mother was the only one who believed the-then governor of a small southern state would win the presidency. “We just made a decision that the country needed a new kind of politics, a new kind of economics, a new commitment to get into the next century with the American Dream alive and well, a commitment that would restore the middle class and give people who were poor a chance to work into it,” Clinton said. “We decided to stop the politics of pitting one American against another by race, by ethnicity, by gender, by income, by anything else. We decided, ‘well, we tried all that for a while, let’s try working together and see how that works out.’” The former president last month held his annual Clinton Global Initiative, a gathering of government and business leaders to discuss world problems, and in November he plans to release a book on the economy.I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

• APbradshaw

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• AngryPancho

  Getting old is no picnic. Preparation is all.