Families always care for older people. In the Asia and Pacific region, older persons often live with their children in extended families. However, the traditional extended family system and traditions across the region are changing. Increased globalisation, urbanisation and social mobility, smaller families, and the tendency for married women to seek wage employment have reduced the number of traditional care givers for older persons. Consequently, the social safety net and support provided by family structures are increasingly unavailable to many older persons in the region.
Older people are unproductive and a burden on communities and society.
Most people in the Asia and Pacific region continue to work well into old age, supporting themselves and others. There are also millions of older people who are unpaid workers family and community leaders, carers of children and people who are ill, advisers, teachers, guardians of culture and volunteers. In both paid and unpaid work their contribution to the development process is vital. Older people are not able to learn new skills and they do not need education or training. Evidence suggests that older people are just as good at studying as anybody else, although they may be out of practice and may not always have confidence in their own abilities.