In recent years, there have been significant efforts to promote international reflection and action on the human rights of older persons. Many stakeholders have called for increased visibility and use of international human rights standards to address the plight of millions of older men and women around the world.

Not long ago, the problem of ageing was thought to concern only a handful of countries. Today, the number of people over the age of 60 is increasing at an unprecedented rate, pointing to growth from the current 740 million to 1 billion by the end of the decade. Unfortunately, this increase has also highlighted the lack of adequate protection mechanisms and gaps in policies and programmes addressing the situation of older persons. Today, two-thirds of the world's older people live in low- and middle-income countries, and this proportion is set to rise to 80 per cent by 2050.

Older people are not a homogeneous group and the challenges they face in protecting or enjoying their human rights vary considerably. While some remain active members of their community, many others lack housing, adequate care or live alone.

Multiple discrimination figures as an essential component of any analysis, especially when one takes into account that discrimination on the basis of age is often combined with other discriminatory factors, such as sex, socioeconomic status, ethnicity or health status.

CHALLENGES

■ Discrimination: In different countries around the world, stereotypes and prejudices about older people are socially tolerated. Age discrimination tends to be combined with other discrimination, such as discrimination based on sex, race or ethnicity, religion, disability, socio-economic conditions or health status, which negatively impacts the exercise and enjoyment of human rights by older adults.

■ Poverty: The most pressing problem faced by older people is poverty, characterized by lack of adequate housing, malnutrition, lack of medical care for chronic diseases, limited access to drinking water and sanitation, prohibitive cost of medicines or medical treatment and insecurity of economic income. Despite their poverty, older people continue to be providers for their grandchildren and other family members.

■ Violence and abuse: Physical, emotional and/or sexual violence is reported worldwide, whether by family members or trusted persons. In addition, economic exploitation is not uncommon and is often under-documented and under-reported.

■ Lack of specific services and measures: Faced with the growing demand for specialized services, the supply remains insufficient. Older people require care and attention centers, long-term care programs, including in their own homes, as well as geriatric or other services that allow the exercise of a wide range of human rights.

The UN establishes that a person is considered to be an elderly person at 60 years of age, although in developed countries old age is considered to begin at 65 years of age.

Did you know...?

By 2050, one in six people is expected to be aged 65 or older, making older people even more vulnerable to violence.

Approximately 1 in 6 people aged 60 or older experienced some form of abuse in community settings.

Elder abuse can lead to serious physical injuries and long-lasting psychological consequences.

The problem is expected to increase due to ageing populations in many countries.

82% of estimated deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide occurred among people aged 60 or older.

Protecting our Elders

Between 2019 and 2030, the number of people aged 60 years and over is projected to increase by 38%, from 1 billion to 1.4 billion, outnumbering youth globally, and this growth will be especially greater and faster in developing regions, and requires greater attention to the specific challenges affecting older persons, including in the field of human rights.

Elder abuse is a social problem that exists in developing and developed countries and is generally underreported worldwide. Prevalence rates or estimates are available in only a few developed countries, ranging from 1% to 10%. Although the extent of elder abuse is unknown, its social and moral significance is indisputable. For this reason, this problem requires a multifaceted global response that focuses on protecting the rights of older persons.

Ways to define, detect and address elder abuse need to be framed in the cultural context and considered alongside culturally specific risk factors. For example, in some traditional societies older widows are forced to remarry, while in others older women living alone are accused of practising witchcraft. From a health and social perspective, if primary health care sectors and social services are not well equipped to detect and address the problem, elder abuse will remain semi-hidden.

Ageing

The world's population is ageing. Virtually all countries in the world are experiencing an increase in the number and proportion of older people.

Population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the 21st century, with implications for almost all sectors of society, including the labour and financial markets, the demand for goods and services such as housing, transport and social protection, as well as family structure and intergenerational ties.

Older people are increasingly seen as agents contributing to development, whose capacity to act in their own interest and that of their societies must be integrated into policies and programmes at all levels. In the coming decades, many countries are likely to face fiscal and political pressures in relation to public health care, pension and social protection systems for an increasingly older population.