The Graying of the World

The number of people in the world over the age of 60 is expected to triple by 2050. This—and the fact that over-60s will constitute a much larger percentage of the overall population—was discussed Friday afternoon at the State of the World Forum. Also at issue is the quality of life for older persons as the number of years people live beyond what we now consider to be the traditional retirement age continues to increase.

The advisor to the United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging, Tarek Shuman, said that age needs to be considered as a development issue because it affects all of society. The workforce of developed nations will shrink as birth rates continue to decline, and as a result they will turn to increasing numbers of skilled workers from developing nations. It is questionable whether international migration will provide a solution to the shrinking population growth rate of developed countries. However, as Shuman pointed out, this brain drain will more than likely hinder the progress of developing countries.

Shuman believes that it is critical that the World Assembly on Aging, to be held in Spain in 2002, not only deal with humanitarian issues, such as health and housing, but also develop practical policies to deal with the demographic issues.

Audrey Kitagawa, head of the Sri Ramakrishna Spiritual Family, said, "We have to change our perception of the elderly so we don't marginalize them." Many societies used to look to older persons for wisdom and it is possible to return to that, but older persons have to change their attitudes toward themselves. "They should not view their golden years as debilitating, but as a freedom that allows them to search for the deeper meaning of life. Then the elderly will be called upon as leaders again because they will be a resource the young can tap into."

The topic of marginalization was also touched on by Howard Didsbury, director of media projects for the World Futures Society, when he asked rhetorically, how many people keep hearing the phrase "family values"? He pointed out that increasingly there is no place at home with the family for older persons: saying, "We'll all end up in Happy Hills." According to Didsbury, we need a reevaluation of society in order to deal with the expected increase in the percentage of the non-working population.

Dianne Davis of the International Council for Caring Communities addressed the issue of aging in the developing world. "We're looking at this with a developed country's mentality. Only about 20 countries have effective pension systems." Davis described a multi-generational program in South Africa in which schoolchildren are encouraged to pick up the excessive amounts of plastic garbage off the streets. They take the plastic to school and exchange it for a free meal. Older people then collect the plastic from the schools and construct objects out of it that are then sold to tourists.

Urs Peter Gauchat, dean of the School of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, described a program that has recently been implemented in Chicago in which older persons live in the same public housing as single mothers. This allows a single mother to leave her children with an older person when she goes out to work. In return for the childcare they provide, the older residents pay lower rents.

Although it is clear that a reevaluation of our social structure and attitudes regarding older persons is required, it's not so clear how we'll achieve such a goal on a global level. As Didsbury said, "When I think of world leaders I think of what the ancient Greeks said, 'With what little wisdom the world is ruled.' We need to involve the minds of all the population, including the young."

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