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**AoA Update**-See also:**Back Issues**

**Volume 3 Issue 6- Administration on Aging -  October - November 1998**

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|  | **Assistant Secretary for Aging Stresses Need to    Prepare for Global Aging Federal Government Kicks off International Year of Older PersonsThe Global Dimensions of Aging****Toward a Society for All AgesSpecial Areas of Concern WomenAging and Development****Masthead** |
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## Assistant Secretary for Aging Stresses Need to Prepare forGlobal Aging 

Speaking to an audience of some 500 persons, at an October2 Kick Off event for the InternationalYear of Older Persons, Assistant Secretary for Aging, Jeanette C. Takamura, emphasizedthe importance of making the coming global longevity revolution a "preferredfuture." In her remarks, given at the New York Hilton, Dr. Takamura stressed the"Need to create many venues for sustained, substantive discussions and exchanges,involving persons of all ages drawn from both the public and private sectors. The Kick-Offevent was sponsored by the US Committee for the Celebration of the International Year forOlder Persons, a voluntary group made up of leading organizations and individuals in thefield of aging, led by the New York-based Brookdale Center on Aging.

Dr. Takamura noted that the U.S. faces its own sense of urgency in meeting thechallenges of its aging population, "For in less than 13 years, 77 million babyboomers will begin to join the ranks of older Americans. Moreover, our baby boomers willmake up just one generational cohort among the four generational cohorts of Americanelders that will be redefining the very landscape of later life," she added. Dr.Takamura emphasized that America’s older population will not only have diversecohorts, but that Older Americans will be increasingly racially and ethnically diverse inthe future. Growing numbers of African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian andPacific Islander American elders will be contributing to our society and challenging thosewho seek to serve them and their diverse needs.

Dr. Takamura pointed out that the Administration is seeking to improve the lives of allolder Americans by preserving Social Security and Medicare for future generations,carrying out biomedical and other research to "better prevent, diagnose and treatinfectious and now chronic diseases," providing consumer-directed services,particularly for persons with disabilities, and focusing on crimes against the elderlyincluding "rooting out Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse."

Dr. Takamura stressed that the AoA is "concentrating upon building new directionsin such vital areas as long-term care and giving emphasis to the modernization of servicesand programs in anticipation of our need to serve at least four cohorts of older Americansin the not too distant future."

Dr. Takamura who chairs the Federal International Year of Older Persons Committee,noted that the Committee has developed a full agenda including a federal kick-off event onOctober 19 and a conference on longevity and active aging to be held June 1 and 2, 1999 inWashington, DC. The Conference will foster the development of a collaborative aging agendaamong federal agencies. Topic areas will include Aging in Place, Long-Term Care andDisabilities, Older Americans as a Resource, Economic Security, and Health Care, includinghealth promotion and disease prevention. The conference will be open to federal employees,representatives of state and local governments, and non-governmental and internationalorganizations. 

The Committee plans to host media roundtables throughout the year that involve keymedia representatives in discussions of issues associated with an aging society, such asnew technologies, shaping new images of the aging, and the implications of longevity. TheCommittee also is planning a series of town meetings and will work with the Voice ofAmerica to develop a program that will be broadcast worldwide. The program will shareAmerica’s experience in preparing for longevity with other countries. At the sametime, the International Year for Older Persons has generated a lot of excitement withinthe federal government and has led to federal agencies initiatives designed to open upopportunities and better conditions for older persons. 

In concluding, Dr. Takamura stressed that "We are all members of an aging globalsociety. The International Year of Older Persons, she said, offers us the uniqueopportunity to honor our elders and acknowledge the contributions that they make to ourfamilies and our communities. She also expressed her hope that "we will truly honorthe past and envision and create a 21st century America that fulfills our mostnoble aspirations for all our people, particularly as we are blessed with the remarkablegift of longevity."

For more information about the InternationalYear of Older Persons, please contact MarlaBush, International Year of Older Persons Coordinator, Administration on Aging, at(202) 619-3996.

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##   Federal Government Kicks off International Yearof Older Persons

****Healthand Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala launched the federal government’sofficial observance of 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons on October 19. TheUnited Nations (UN) General Assembly designated the Year, with its theme, "Towards aSociety for All Ages," to highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by theworld’s rapidly aging population. President Clinton, in a message delivered to the UNon October 1, 1998, the first official day of the International Year, noted that,"longevity is one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. Thanks to remarkableadvances in health care and research, life spans are increasing around the world, and theworld’s older population is expected to approach 1.2 billion by 2025." 

Speaking before a gathering of Cabinet representatives,international delegates and senior advocates in Washington, D.C., Secretary Shalalanoted that, "In the Year 2000, older people will outnumber children for the firsttime in our history. . . the good news is that the millennium promises to be a golden agefor older people. We’ve completely changed what it means to "act your age."Among the internationally recognized guests and speakers were Dr. Alexandre Kalache, Chiefof the World Health Organization Ageing and Health Programme in Geneva, Switzerland andDr. Rose Dobrof, Co-Chair of the US Committee to Celebrate the International Year of OlderPersons. A video message was delivered by US Senator John Glenn (D-OH) who, at age 77,returned to space on October 29 as a NASA astronaut,

In his keynote address, Dr. Kalache emphasized the invaluable resource that olderpersons represent to their families, communities, and the economy. "We must ensurethat we age well and that we are physically and mentally active," he said. This isparticularly important, he stressed, because the burgeoning population of older persons inthird world countries will, unless present economic trends improve, have to depend forfinancial security on their continued abilities to earn a livelihood in their later years.

Over 30 federal government departments and agencies, coordinated by the Administrationon Aging (AoA) and chaired by Assistant Secretary Jeanette C. Takamura, are planninggovernment-wide activities throughout 1999 to discuss issues that will affect agingpopulations in this country in the next century, and to collect and share best practicesamong other nations. Dr. Takamura emphasized in her address that, "It is compellingthat we move now to prepare our own nation, as well as our colleagues around the world,for the international demographic shift in aging populations. The United States has aleadership role and responsibility to provide the blueprint for the societal changes thatneed to take place to prepare the world for this gift of longevity." 

During the International Year, the Federal Committee is planning key events including agovernment-wide conference in June 1 and 2, 1999 which will focus on the implications oflongevity and active aging on federal programs, services and policy areas. The Conferencewill help to develop an aging agenda for the 21st Century. The Federal Committee isworking with public and private organizations, including the Brookdale Center onAging-based U.S. Committee to Celebrate the International Year of Older Persons. 

Many federal agencies are planning specific initiatives that will focus on theirprograms that serve older persons. The Department of Transportation, for example, isplanning an international conference to examine issues related to transportation servicesand programs for older persons of today as well as the 76 million baby boomers anticipatedearly in the next century. Many other events are being planned at the Federal, state andlocal level to highlight the International Year.

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## The Global Dimensions of Aging

****It has only been inthe last few decades, that individual nations and the world community have focusedattention on the social, economic, political, and scientific concerns raised by the rapidgrowth in the number of older persons. While some people lived to advanced ages in thepast, their numbers were small. During this century, however, many regions of the worldhave witnessed declines in infant mortality and in birth rates, while experiencingimprovements in nutrition, basic health care and the control of infectious diseases thathave led to an increase in the number and proportion of older persons.

According to UN estimates, there were some 200 million persons 60 and over throughoutthe world in 1950. By 1975, their numbers had climbed to 350 million. In the year 2000that number will increase further to 590 million, and to over 1.1 billion in 2025--anincrease of 224 percent since 1975. During this same period, the world's population as awhole is expected to grow from 4.1 billion to 8.2 billion--an increase of 102 percent.Thus, by 2025, older persons will constitute 13.7 percent of the world's population. In1975 slightly over half (52 percent) of all persons aged 60 and over lived in developingcountries. By the year 2000, 60 percent of all older persons will live in those countries,and that proportion is expected to reach 72 percent by 2025.

Increases in the numbers and proportions of the aging, of course, are accompanied by achange in a population's age structure. A declining proportion of children in a populationincreases the proportion of older persons. According to UN projections, the populationunder age 15 in the developing regions is expected to decline from an average of 41percent of the total population in 1975 to 33 percent in 2000 and to 26 percent in 2025.In these same regions, the population 60 and over is expected to increase from 6 percentin 1975 to 7 percent in 2000 and to 12 percent in 2025. In the developed regions, thepopulation below age 15 is expected to decline from 25 percent in 1975 to 21 per cent in2000 and to 20 percent in 2025; while the group aged 60 and over is expected to increasefrom 15 percent in 1975 to 18 percent in 2000 and to 23 percent in 2025. 

Life expectancies at age 60 in the developed regions are expected to increase by oneyear between 1975 and 2025. In the developing regions, the projected increase is roughly2.5 years. Men aged 60 could thus expect to live an additional 17 years, on average, inthe developed regions by 2025 and an additional 16 years in the developing regions. Womencould expect about an additional 21 and 18 years, respectively.

If present trends continue, the sex ratio (that is, the number of men per 100 women)will improve slightly in the developed regions. This rate, which in 1975 was 74 men forevery 100 women for the 60-69 age group, will reach 78 in 2025, and increase from 48 to 53men per 100 women for the over-80 age group. In the developing regions, however, the ratewill decline from 96 men in the 60-69 age group to 94 in 2025, and from 78 men per 100women in the over-80 age group to 73. Thus, women, in most cases, will increasinglyconstitute a majority of the older population. These gender-based differences in longevitymay impact on living arrangements, income, health care and other support systems.

Another important trend is the urban-rural distribution of the elderly. In developedregions, two-thirds of the aged lived in urban areas in 1975. This proportion will reachthree-quarters by the year 2000. In contrast, three-quarters of the aged lived in ruralareas in 1975 in the developing regions. The increase in the proportion of the aging inurban areas in these countries could be considerable and exceed 40 percent by the year2000, if migrations from rural to urban areas continue.

The significant growth in the over-80 population has prompted the Population Divisionof the U.N. Secretariat to begin providing population data by groups aged 80-84, 85-89,90-94, 95-99 and 100 and over in future demographic projections and in the year 2000census, thus providing needed information on the oldest old or the "fourth age."

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## Toward a Society for All Ages

****In an effort to improveconditions for the world’s rapidly growing elder population, the United Nationskicked off its International Year of Older Persons at its New York headquarters on October1. The theme, "Towards a Society for All Ages" will be used throughout 1999 andis designed to encourage governments and organizations to examine the status of olderpersons in their respective countries. The theme also promotes the ideal of creating asociety that meets the needs of all age groups by ensuring that its structures, functions,policies, and plans meet the needs and draw on the capabilities of all segments ofsociety.

The General Assembly, in its Proclamation on Ageing, which designated 1999 as theInternational Year of Older Persons, encourages countries to include older persons intheir development programs. It also emphasizes the need to reach out to youngergenerations and to educate them about the need to adopt lifestyles that will help toensure a healthy old age and to begin planning now for their financial needs in theirlater years. The UN Division for Social Policy and Development emphasizes that "Asociety for all ages" would enable all age groups to use their potential, invest inone another and share in the fruits of that investment, guided by the twin principles ofreciprocity and equity. Throughout 1998-1999, the issue of a society for all ages will bedebated and monitored by the support group of the UN Commission for Social Development TheUN conceptual framework for the International Year of Older Persons includes fourareas--the status of older persons; lifelong individual development; multigenerationalrelationships; and the interplay of population aging and development.

| **The number of    persons age 60 and over will increase to over 1.1 billion in 2025**
UN Guidelines for improving the lives of older persons already have been well developedand form the overall objective for the Year. They include the United Nations Principlesfor Older Persons, the International Plan of Action on Ageing, and a General Comment. The18 principles cover the areas of independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment anddignity. The promotion of these principles is the overall objective of the Year. Thesecond part of the guidelines is contained in the International Plan of Action, whose 62recommendations lay the broad foundations for activities on aging, focusing on education,employment and income security, housing and the environment, health and hygiene, socialwelfare and the family. The discussion and specific measures outlined in the InternationalPlan of Action on Ageing and the global targets on aging for the year 2001 serve ascatalysts for practical actions that support the independence, participation, care,self-fulfillment and dignity of older persons as stated in the Principles. 

In addition, a UN general comment draws the attention of Member Nations to the statusof older persons who, unlike women or children, do not have a comprehensive internationalconvention addressing their rights. This comment is designed to guide nations to a betterunderstanding of their obligations to older persons when implementing various provisionsof the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Although theCovenant does not contain any explicit reference to the rights of older persons, itimplicitly recognizes the right to old-age benefits through article 9, which deals withthe right of everyone to social security, including social insurance.

The UN Plan, Principles and General Comment provide a broad framework for action onaging, and draw attention to specific groups that have tended to be excluded frommainstream socio-economic development, including older women, migrants, refugees,indigenous elders and the "oldest old." Among the many dimensions of "thesituation of older persons," two are gaining pre-eminence among UN Organizations andtheir member countries. These include active aging and caregiving strategies. The terms"active" or "productive" aging are used to describe the many sociallyand economically productive roles open to aging individuals in developing countries. Theseterms also are designed to reverse the trend in developed countries where retirement fromthe formal economic sector often negates society’s acknowledgment of the unpaidproductive roles of many older persons.

Opportunities for active aging in developed economies have been increasing. At theinitiative of Japan, the group of eight industrialized countries, in their Denvercommuniqu� of June 22 1997, recognized active aging as the desire and ability of manyolder people to continue work or other socially productive roles well into their lateryears. The representatives of participating countries agreed that the old stereotypes ofseniors as dependent should be abandoned, and discussed ways to promote the active agingof their older citizens, taking into account their individual circumstances. The memberstates recommended removing disincentives to labor force participation and loweringbarriers to flexible and part-time employment that exist in some countries. The group alsodiscussed the transition from work to retirement, lifelong learning and ways to encouragevoluntarism and to support family caregiving.

The UN program on aging is considering convening an expert meeting on ways to expandolder workers’ options, including gradual retirement, part-time work and the creationof "initiative centers" in local communities that would provide basic supports(tools, marketing advice, etc.) for a variety of mid-life and elder enterprises. However,in promoting active aging, the UN says, that a cautious route must be forged between theextremes of exclusionary "ageism" and an activism that might lead to too muchdemand on older persons.

Developing appropriate caregiving strategies is another UN priority. As women enter thelabor market in greater numbers and the number of the oldest old increases, the supply ofinformal caregivers will decline, at a time when the demand for caregiving will increase.At the same time, governments in all areas of the world tend to prefer home care for thefrail elderly to institutional care, for both humanitarian and financial reasons. As aresult, the UN says, tension is developing between two distinct policyobjectives--promoting equal opportunities in the labor market for women, while promotingthe role of the family in caregiving.
**Women, in most cases, will increasingly    constitute a majority of the older population**
To clarify these apparently conflicting trends, and to develop policy guidelines forcaregiving strategies in the next decade, two meetings were planned. In November 1997, theprogramme on ageing convened an expert group meeting at the International Institute onAgeing in Malta, in cooperation with the Division for the Advancement of Women,Alzheimer’s Association USA and Pfizer Inc. The National Committee on Ageing of Chinais exploring the feasibility of hosting, in cooperation with several United Nationsentities, a related interregional symposium on family and community caregiving in 1999 inChina. At the same time, many initiatives at the local and national levels are gettingunderway to meet the caregiving needs of the elderly. One of these is client-centeredcaregiving in small housing units, which is being promoted by the Salmon Group. The Groupcame into being after the European Year of Older Persons and Solidarity between theGenerations, in 1993, and has extended its activities into Eastern Europe. As acontribution to the Year, it is seeking partnerships worldwide in establishing a networkand debate on small-scale client-centered care innovations.
**Go Back to Contents MenuSpecial Areas of Concern Women 
****The InternationalYear on Aging will give special attention to several key areas of concern. The first ofthese is the status of women who tend to live longer than men by several years in mostcountries. While women enjoy longer life expectancy, they often have fewer resources andmore health problems associated with advanced age. Thus, income security and health-carestrategies for women need to be given priority. At the same time, more research is neededinto the biomedical, social and cultural causes of the significant gap in life expectancybetween women and men.

The Commission on the Status of Women, at its 41st session, recommended thatpreparations for the Year include a gender perspective. The Commission decided to addressthe status of older women and the violation of their rights at its 42nd session, and thedifferential impact of population aging on men and women at its 43rd session. It alsoinvited other UN entities to examine the status of older women, including the Committee onthe Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the International Research and TrainingInstitute for the Advancement of Women, the United Nations Development Fund for Women andthe Division for the Advancement of Women.
**Lifelong Development 

Lifelong individual development, the second area of interest is a relatively newpriority of the United Nations programme on ageing. It is based on the belief that bothindividual behavior and national policy, which affect people at different ages, butespecially the young, will shape the lives of people in older age. New interest in thequestion is partly in response to the rapidity of population aging in developing countries— a process that will take many nations only 15 to 30 years, as opposed to the 50 to100 years it took developed countries in the past.
***Youth

Today’s youth constitute an important target group. They need to acquire newknowledge, skills and behaviors if they are to reach their later years with good health,income security, and supportive family and social networks. Youth need information aboutthe long-term impact of the so-called "affluent lifestyles" that often includesmoking, drinking, and "junk food" as well as the impact of stress and pollutionwhich often come with increasing industrialization and rapid population growth in urbanareas. These lifestyles are taking root in developing countries, according to the WorldHealth Report 1997, and are leading to a rapid increase in chronic diseases that can beprevented but seldom cured. Unhealthy lifestyles in youth and middle age can result in anextended period of debility in the later years, with a consequent heavy caregiving burdenon families and societies.

Youth also need to know that traditional systems of support and social security arechanging, and, perhaps, weakening, including family and community networks. At the sametime, there is a decline in the availability of state welfare services in developedeconomies. Adopting the habit of saving over one’s entire working life thus isincreasingly important, as urged by the World Bank in its 1994 publication *Averting theOld Age Crisis*. Policy frameworks that support savings, access to pensions, and theprovision of social security are explored in the 1996 publication *Lifelong Preparationfor Old Age in Asia and the Pacific.**Childhood

******TheUN paper also notes that childhood has a relationship with the later years. It is nowknown that "emotional intelligence" is acquired in childhood, together with theimprints of co-dependence, independence and interdependence — "know-how"that facilitates family life, self-reliance and collaboration throughout the course ofone’s life. Many see a natural bond of affection between children and elders, and thebenefit that can be gained by training older people to be "grandparents bychoice" for deprived children. 

The ability of individuals to make an early adjustment to longevity will be influencedby their perceptions of old age and by societal attitudes. If old age is accorded meaningand purpose for individual and societal development, it can be approached with interestand confidence and could help shape a more compassionate society that benefits everyone..
***The Middle Years

With longer life expectancy, mid-life is becoming an increasingly important phase oflife. It offers adults a chance to review their past and future life achievements andpossibilities, and to make adjustments in their lives, both in terms of lifestyle andlivelihood skills, that will enable them to remain active members of society in theirnow-extended later years.

At present, particularly in industrialized countries, the demands of work and familylife are competing for the time and attention of working adults, while those in retirementtend to have abundant free time but fewer responsibilities or calls on that time.Societies as well as individuals would gain by a more even distribution of time spent ineducation, work, leisure and family responsibilities throughout the lifespan. These andother aspects of individual lifelong development are being explored in meetings. Theseinclude an international symposium on restructuring work and the life course, held by theUniversity of Toronto and the University of Bremen in Toronto last May; the WorldConference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, held in Lisbon during August; and theInternational Development Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. in 1999.
**Multigenerational Relationships

****Multigenerationalrelationships constitute a third approach to the society for all ages. It hinges on theconcept of "interdependence" and how this can be maintained in family andsociety as the proportions of old and young change. The emergence of the "inversepyramid" family illustrates this change. Where once there was a pyramid of manychildren and increasingly fewer adults and older persons, the inverse pyramid family isnow possible, consisting of one child, two parents, four grandparents and, possibly, eightgreat-grandparents.

The challenges of aging for the family primarily involve caregiving and, for society,providing social services and income security. These two dimensions have innumerableissues to be explored — such as active aging and caregiving. But the subject isbroader still. A concept of multigenerational citizenship is again being discussed--onethat invites each generation to shape the public world, seeing it as a continuum thatexisted before their birth and will remain after their death. Legacies to futuregenerations are a collective responsibility of today’s citizens — whether it isthe legacy of natural capital (the environment), physical capital (infrastructure, plantand equipment), financial capital (savings), social capital (institutions and structures)or cultural capital (the values, principles and concepts that are handed down).

The Bulletin on Ageing (No. 2 and 3, 1997) examines multigenerational relationshipsfrom several perspectives: equity, exchanges, caregiving and the particularities ofgender, indigenous cultures and migrants. The International Family Policy Forum edited theBulletin and is seeking support for a worldwide inventory of multigenerationalinitiatives, with expert analysis and commentary, as a major contribution to theInternational Year of Older Persons. The Committee for Development Planning consideredintergenerational transfers and social security at its 32nd meeting in May1998.
**Aging and Development

The impact of aging on development is the fourth area of concern. Demographic agingaffects the size and proportion of the various cohorts, changing young and old dependencyratios and the size of the working population. As a consequence, employment, socialsecurity, social welfare, education and health care, as well as investment, consumptionand savings patterns need adjustment. 

Developed countries are adjusting national policies to ensure better income security inold age, generally introducing a mix of measures that include pension and social securityschemes, incentives for life-long saving, and flexible work and retirement patterns.Developing countries generally advocate a three-fold approach to income security for olderpersons through support for family and community structures; rural development to stem theout-migration of youth; and opportunities for older persons to earn a livelihood byparticipating in cooperative, small business or family enterprises and by gaining accessto training and credit. 

Considering the aging process in its entirety requires, according to the InternationalPlan of Action on Ageing, "an integrated approach in the framework of overalleconomic and social planning. Undue emphasis on specific problems would constitute aserious obstacle to the integration of aging policies and programs into the broaderdevelopment framework." An integrated approach, as recommended in the Plan, hasproceeded more slowly than specific approaches to aging focused on health, housing, etc.The lifelong approach has only just gained attention. National-level concerns have beenmainly in terms of social security costs, usually calculated in terms of rising old-agedependency ratios. The rising dependency ratio of older persons is, in itself, only one ofmany factors that influence a nation’s ability to provide income security to itselderly while ensuring economic growth. A broad and more integrated approach wouldintroduce several other factors, including:

The capabilities of persons over age 50 and their opportunities to continue working,  including part-time; the rates of unemployment and of female employment as well as the age  of entry into the workforce--all affect overall dependency ratios that, in turn, affect  national income and disbursements;

The application of new technologies, which can increase individual productivity as well  as national revenues; population policies, which could, for example, aim to increase the  infant population through pro-natal policies, or the adult population through  pro-immigration policies; investing internationally in youthful countries, which could  simultaneously generate jobs for youth and income for pensioners; military spending, and  the extent to which spending on "external security" can be translated into  spending on "social security"—all of these factors impact on the number of  elderly who are dependent and on a nation’s ability to meet the needs generated by  that dependency

The UN Committee on Social and Economic Development says that strategies need to bedeveloped to support an integrated approach, including integrating aging into follow-upactivities to the major UN conferences of the 1990s (on social development, population,women and housing). Progress in this area would meet with global target No. 2 set for theyear 2001, which aims to generate support for integrating aging into national andinternational development plans and programs.
Go Back to Contents Menu**Aging and Development
****Achieving development in any nation requires a balancebetween social, economic and environmental factors. At the same time, the UN Committee onSocial and Economic Development points out, countries must take into account theirdemographic trends and changes in the structure of their populations to optimizedevelopment. If developing countries are to meet the basic needs of their population,including the elderly, it will, the UN stresses, be necessary to establish an economicorder based on new international economic relations that are beneficial to all nations andmake equitable use of the world’s wealth, resources and technology possible

****The present International Plan of Action on Ageing deals bothwith issues affecting the aging as individuals and the aging of the population. UNprojections show that a marked increase in the population over age 60 is expected invirtually every country in the future, particularly among those 80 and over. In manycountries, the increase is expected to become especially apparent during the first quarterof the 21st century; and, increasingly, women will constitute the majority of theseelderly populations. The aging of populations, with its implications both for developmentat the national level and for the welfare and safety of older individuals, will concernall countries in the relatively near future. According to the UN Development Commission,nations need to focus on the vast and multifaceted impact that the aging of populationswill have on the structure, functioning and further development of societies well into the21st century. The role of the public and private sectors in assumingresponsibility for some of the functions now provided by the family in developingcountries will probably have to increase under such circumstances, the commission says.

****Countries with established social security systems will dependon the strength of their economy to sustain the costs of retirement benefits for a growingelderly population and the costs of maintaining and educating dependent children and youngpeople. Changing dependency ratios, in terms of the number of old people who depend fortheir material safety on younger, economically active, and wage-earning people, willinfluence the development of a country regardless of its social structure, traditions orformal social security arrangements, the UN points out. Problems may emerge in countriesand regions where the aging have traditionally been cared for by their family or the localcommunity. Those relationships may become increasingly difficult to maintain as the numberof dependent elderly increases while traditional care-providing structures, like theextended family, are undergoing radical changes.

The total dependency ratio in many countries may eventually be close to present levels,due to the decreasing number of dependent children. There is, however, a political andpsychological problem related to the perceptions of meeting the needs of population groupsthat are not directly participating in production and public life, the UN notes. The costsof programs for younger generations may be more acceptable to a society if they are viewedas an investment in the future. Costs for the elderly, however, especially if they are notdirectly related to the elderly’s individual savings or wage-related benefits, may beless accepted, particularly if costs weigh heavily on overstrained national budgets. 
**The increase in the proportion of the    aging in urban areas in developing countries could rise from 25 percent in 1975 to over 40    percent by the year 2000, if migrations from rural to urban areas continue.**
According to the UN, the problem of deteriorating dependency ratios, and ofguaranteeing even minimal material security for older people with reduced earningcapacities, will be most acute in rural areas. This is particularly true for subsistencefarming areas in developing countries, which already suffer from an escalating flight ofyounger and more active segments of the population to urban areas in search of jobs. Thistrend leads to an even more insecure future for the older persons left behind and, in avicious circle of further deprivation, reduces the chances of simulating public investmentin agriculture and services which would benefit the remaining farmers.

To some extent this problem, the UN says, is being offset by funds sent back to therural areas from younger people who have found jobs in urban and industrialized areas. Inmany cases, the size of the remittances indicates an effort not only to help sustain thefamily, but to save for future investments. For the immediate future, this may help tosoften the effects of the rural exodus and provide some material safety for the olderpeople left behind. Nevertheless, the UN says, it cannot be seen as a long-term remedy,and efforts aimed at improving socio-economic conditions in rural areas are indispensable.Rural development, the UN reports says, is key to solving the overall problem of the agingin large parts of the world, as well as key to balanced and integrated national progressin countries with an essentially agricultural economy.
**The slowly expanding life span of the    population, even in developing areas, constitutes a hidden resource for national economies**
The slowly expanding lifespan of a population even in developing areas can be aresource for national economies which can help to compensate for the exodus of youngerpeople, decrease dependency ratios, and ensure that the rural elderly are activeparticipants in national life and production, rather than passive and vulnerable victimsof development. Developing countries identified income-generating projects for olderpersons as their foremost need in the fourth world survey on aging conducted in 1996. Inthe area of project design and implementation, HelpAge International has assisted groupsand organizations of older persons to become economically self-reliant. Some currentinitiatives involve providing solar tents for agriculture in Bolivia, andincome-generating mills in Mozambique. HelpAge International is organizing a seminar todevelop policies for older people in Thailand, Myanmar, Viet Nam, the Lao People’sDemocratic Republic, Cambodia and China (Mekong Basin regions). It also has established arevolving loan scheme for older persons in Sri Lanka.

The UN suggests that compensation for the emigration of young people to developedcountries could include ensuring the immigrant’s right to contribute to a pension,and providing favorable provisions for financial transfers in whatever form the benefitsare granted to migrant workers. This would help to stimulate economic development in thehome country. Bi-national and multinational social security agreements, the UN urges, mustbe developed 
**Forced Retirement

In countries with well-developed social security systems linked to a set retirementage, aging will continue to be one of the most important factors affecting the compositionof the labor force. Compulsory retirement should not be considered solely in terms of itsrepercussions on the elderly, because it also affects the active labor force. Despite theapparent wisdom of lowering the retirement age to open up employment opportunities for theyoung, such action, the UN argues, is only a short-term and partial solution of one socialproblem through the creation of another, probably longer-lasting one.

More innovative actions should be considered. On the other hand, the range in personalinterests and preferences among people approaching retirement age could, without too manyadministrative or organizational changes, be taken into account in a system of elasticretirement plans geared to the individual. Where retirement is preferred, different agelevels for voluntary early retirement can be established with reduced benefits andcounterbalanced by extended employment periods for those older persons who want tocontinue working. Other arrangements, such as part-time, occasional, or consulting work,are already in use, especially among workers in the higher technological andadministrative level jobs, and could be extended to a greater part of the labor force. Inorder to implement this measure, workers should have the opportunity for retraining anddeveloping new skills, the UN urges.
**Older Women

The relationship between the employment and income needs of the young and the elderlyraises particularly acute problems for women, the UN points out, because their longer lifeexpectancy may mean an old age aggravated by economic need, isolation and few prospectsfor paid employment. Where social security systems based on accrued retirement benefitsexist, the growth in the number and longevity of retired persons is now emerging as amajor component in the husbandry of national economic resources. This is sometimes viewedin terms of a gradual freezing of a large share of national wealth for so-callednon-productive purposes. However, the UN notes, retirement funds can be a stabilizingfactor in the national economy, by providing for substantial long-term and conservativelyutilized sources of funding in otherwise fluctuating economic systems. In such systems,the purchasing power of pensions should as far as possible be maintained. Similarly, mostpension payments from retirement funds represent deferred earnings by the individualretiree. The use of pension payments for immediate material needs rather than forlong-term and insecure investments may be a stimulating factor in societies that dependheavily on individual consumption for their economic health.

In nations where retirement benefit systems have not been established, the economicimplications of the aging of societies are largely negative, and will probably continue tobe so, until efforts are made to turn this liability into a potential benefit for thewhole society. Government initiatives that promote material development and socialwell-being, and international action to sustain such initiatives, could be undertakenjointly to prepare for the future of those nearing old age in areas where traditionalsupport structures for the vulnerable elderly are about to disintegrate, the UN concludes.
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AoA Update

**Jeanette C. Takamura**Assistant Secretary for Aging

**Harry Posman**Director, Executive Secretariat

**June B. Faris**Editor

**AoA Update**Administration on AgingU.S. Department of Health & Human ServicesWashington, DC 20201(202) 619-0724TDD: (202) 401-7575 FAX: (202) 260-1012E-mail: [email protected]Internet Web Site: http://www.aoa.gov

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