The global population is aging as never before. Within the next five years, adults 65 and older will outnumber children younger than five; by 2050, they will outnumber children younger than 14.
Are we ready for this unprecedented demographic shift? We’d better be. The strains on health systems, governments, families and communities may be enormous.
The change will be particularly rapid in low- and middle-income countries, where most older people live and where their share of the population is growing fastest.
The global population is aging as never before. Within the next five years, adults 65 and older will outnumber children younger than five; by 2050, they will outnumber children younger than 14.
Are we ready for this unprecedented demographic shift? We’d better be. The strains on health systems, governments, families and communities may be enormous.
The change will be particularly rapid in low- and middle-income countries, where most older people live and where their share of the population is growing fastest.
For example, China’s population 65 and older will double in less than 25 years to 14 percent of the total. It took France more than 100 years to reach that same point.
This is why the World Health Organization has chosen aging and health as the theme of World Health Day 2012 on April 7.
As we consider the health implications of this phenomenon, it is crucial that we focus on adding life to years.
The road to healthy aging begins before birth. An adult who was undernourished in the womb, or obese as an adolescent, is at increased risk of disease.
Fortunately, how we age depends to a large degree on how we behave. By watching what we eat, being physically active and avoiding tobacco and the harmful use of alcohol, we can look forward to a healthier old age.
The conditions in which we are born, live, work and grow old also crucially influence how well we age. We need to ensure living conditions that enable us to stay healthy during our entire lifetimes.
The right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health does not diminish with age, and a growing number of people will require age-friendly health systems that meet their needs—be they physical, social and mental. As more people than ever reach their 80s and 90s, there will be more people at risk of dementia. Many very old adults will require long-term community, residential or hospital care.
How well countries of the Western Pacific care for their aging populations will depend largely on how well they tackle the corresponding increase of noncommunicable diseases such as stroke, diabetes and cancer, as well as weak health systems and services.
This commentary was originally published in Inquirer