A New Look at an Ageing Population

By Emily Blewett, Guardian

United Kingdom

July 17, 2008

Chances of hitting old age have never been so great. By 2050 the percentage of people worldwide over 65 years will have doubled. Old age has a future.

So why muffle the champagne pop? An overwhelming 1 billion older people are living on less than one dollar a day. With global food price inflation soaring to dangerously high levels, older people in developing countries are at their most vulnerable. 

Though presently over-looked and under-valued, can older people provide the crucial link to the development process for the future? Can the traditional role of elders in communities be consolidated with an increasingly globalised world? What kind of local and global support need to be given to aging populations? Governments and international organisations are being urged to take a new look at an aging world.

Older people form an essential part in sustaining development of the young. Older people in parts of Kenya care for 88% of people living with HIV and Aids, a recent study by HelpAge International has found. 

Retirement has provided a different kind of lump sum for 73-year-old Ugandan John Riukaamya. Twenty orphans were brought to his house, after seven of his children died from Aids. School, clothing and medicine for the children are tightly funded through a pension received as a former civil servant (US$63.7 per month). 

"I am always worrying about how I am going to find enough money. It is a big responsibility with nobody to help me", says John.

John is one of the many older carers looking after the 68% of orphans who have lost parents through Aids in Uganda. He is one of the very few to be supported by a pension. 

Older people are not solely a financial source for younger generations. They also provide immense social support and stability. The relentless onslaught of globalisation threatens to rupture the delicate social balance which has held these communities together for millennia.

The structure of a multi-generational household and the role of grandparents in local culture, are often overlooked by western international agencies in aid distribution. Problems arise when solely younger generations are provided with education and literacy. Feeling worthless and disrespected, older people are isolated from development initiatives and aid programmes.

The Grandmother Project is a USA and Italy based non-profit organisation with the slogan, "Strong grandmothers, healthy communities". The organisation supports the foundations of social relationships between generations by incorporating older people in development programmes.

This doesn't mean that grandmothers are asked to build hospitals and drive bulldozers. A focus on interaction and inter-generational cohesion through story-telling projects in schools and cookery classes encourages stability in communities where recent devastation or social mobility has had destabilising effects. Small initiatives such as the Grandmother Project have made vast progress in rebuilding, and preserving, social networks in areas of Africa and Southern Asia.

Pensions are important for the rights of older people and for the future of whole societies. John Riukaamya is one of the many older people sponsoring the healthcare and education of younger generations, where a middle generation has been wiped out due to regional disasters. 

In April 2008, the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and HelpAge International, organised a meeting in Uganda on behalf of the African Union in order to discuss social protection within the region.

Where the money should come from and how it should be distributed, were central issues raised in the report. It was recommended that nationally a minimum of 2-5% of GDP should be allocated to finance social development programmes. The private sector was also identified as a vital actor that should be encouraged to address social protection issues within its corporate social responsibility agenda. A third underlying theme, was the importance of including civil society in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating international programmes.

These steps are not made overnight and require huge amounts of cooperation between national, regional and international sectors. Yet they are essential for progressing towards the first Millennium Development Goal agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000: the eradication of poverty and hunger.

By 2050 1.2 billion older people will be living without social security or a state pension, estimated the World economic and social survey launched in New York last year. The futures of younger people, as well as older people are affected by this figure. The path towards the Millennium Development Goal is a long one, yet the first steps have been made. 

For the eradication of poverty, changes and choices need to be made that effect the long term. Giving older people the right social and economic opportunities is a part of these changes. Where aid distribution ignores the role of older people in development, the existing rights and social contributions of older people are disregarded. The way we think about, treat and incorporate older people in the development process needs to be revised. It is time to see a future in an ageing population.

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