By: Reuters
New York Times, April 14, 2002

MADRID, April 13 (Reuters) — With the world's population of people 60 or older expected to triple to two billion by 2050, delegates from 160 nations have vowed to defend the health and rights of the old, with special focus on poor countries, where the increase will be fastest.

After four days of heated debate in Madrid, a United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging agreed unanimously on Friday to a 44-page plan of action that lists scores of objectives, including education and work for the elderly, pension guarantees, housing and health care, and the rights of older women.

"We have put aging on the agenda for the 21st century," said Paul Hoeffel, a United Nations spokesman.

An accompanying political declaration outlined shared principles on how to adjust to the expected boom in the elderly population over the next 50 years.

By the middle of this century, the United Nations estimates, one in five people will be 60 or older, and more than two million people will be 100 or older.

United Nations officials said that the demographic shift was likely to require a corresponding change in development aid, with some of the resources that had been focused in the 20th century on education and employment for the young moving into programs more tailored to the needs of the elderly.

"This conference was aimed at raising awareness of the issue of aging," said Nitin Desai, the United Nations under secretary for economic and social affairs, who headed the conference. "Now pressure groups will have a much stronger voice to ensure governments stick to these commitments."

Developing nations and nongovernmental organizations had pressed for the establishment of a special agency to carry out the plan. But wealthier nations insisted that executing it was the responsibility of individual governments and existing United Nations agencies.

The meeting highlighted problems in developing nations, where better health care and nutrition will quadruple the number of the elderly by 2050, most of them living in rural poverty.

"In Europe, countries became rich before they became old," said Mohammad Nizamuddin, director of the United Nations Population Fund for Asia and the Pacific. "But in the developing world, countries are growing old before they are rich." The United Nations has set a goal of reducing by half the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

After delegates from several countries told stories of harrowing neglect and abuse of older people, the United Nations recognized for the first time the need to eliminate violence toward the elderly, particularly women, who make up two-thirds of that population.

"There has been a strong focus on human rights and elder abuse," Mr. Desai said. "Before, we hardly even talked about it."

With regard to people 80 or older, the world's fastest-growing age group, the plan called for special attention to their medical and nutritional needs.

It also advocated encouraging the elderly to work later in life to ensure that countries' economies and health systems do not collapse.

"Older people facing technological change without education or training can experience alienation," the plan said, calling on countries to "promote literacy, numeracy and technological skills training for older persons and the aging work force."

It also called for financial incentives, more flexible working hours for older workers and guaranteed pension rights.

"The world may find enormous benefits offered by aging," Mr. Desai said, noting that older people could bring a lifetime of experience and knowledge to areas like education.

If the demographic focus of the 20th century was on education and employment for the young, then the theme for the 21st century will be the elderly, Mr. Desai said.