The Aging of Society Deserves More Attention

The China Post news staff

Taiwan

November 16, 2007

Taiwan is a fast-aging society, and the trend is spawning a multitude of problems that must be addressed. 

In grappling with this crisis, the Cabinet recently adopted a plan to enhance the well-being of the island's elderly people. Under the plan, NT$80 billion (US$2.7 billion) would be spent over a 10-year period to provide senior citizens with various services -- including home care, free transportation, and rehabilitation -- that they need to live a healthy and comfortable life. 

While this plan is apparently aimed at ingratiating the ruling party with voters, it is a timely and welcome effort that could make life easier for people in their sunset years. 

The number of elderly people in Taiwan has been growing much faster than citizens of all other age brackets. According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the ratio of elderly people on this island to the population as a whole has been increasing at an average 0.2 percent annually over the past decade. At present, people aged 65 or older make up about 10 percent of the population, a percentage expected to grow to 20 percent in 2025. 

Two main factors lie behind this trend: a significant increase in the average lifespan of people and the tendency for married couples to minimize the number of children they bear. The former factor has resulted from advancements in medicine, and the latter is a consequence of economic pressures people face today. 

Formerly, age was synonymous with maturity and wisdom. In those days, respect for the elderly was an important value and senior citizens were generally treated kindly and politely by their family and general public. The kindness and respect the elderly enjoyed gave them the comfort that helps protect them against discomfort and illness. 

These days, in contrast, the elderly are regarded by many as worthless individuals who have outlived their usefulness. Most young people today prefer to live separately from their aging parents. This is the reason many old people live alone and suffer from loneliness and sickness. 

The safety of elderly people who live alone is a concern that needs to be addressed when the government maps out its social welfare programs. In recent years, there have been frequent news reports of an elderly person found dead only after neighbors smelled the offensive odor of a rotting body. This kind of tragedy is sure to become a pattern, unless measures are adopted to make sufficient home care available to senior citizens living all by themselves. 

The fact that more and more senior citizens are not getting the care they deserve is a sad reality of these times. The situation is not unchangeable, however. A good old-age welfare program that provides the elderly with sufficient annuities, medical care and free and assisted transportation will help ease the hardships brought by old age. 

And yet many senior citizens feel unhappy or miserable because they live alone in an empty house. Such unhappiness will be eased if these unfortunate senior citizens are cared for by volunteer workers hired by the government or, preferably, by their own children. The government should urge young people to be more concerned about their aging parents, and teenagers should volunteer for the task of caring for old people at the nursing homes or old-age institutions. The achievement of these goals will depend to a great extent on the promotion of traditional values.

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