Today, one in every ten persons is 60 years and older. By 2050, one out of every five will be an older person, and by 2150, one third of the people in the world are expected to be 60 years of age or older.
In our fast ageing world, older people will increasingly play a critical role – through volunteer work, transmitting experience and knowledge, helping their families with caring responsibilities and increasing their participation in the paid labour force. Older persons make major contributions to society. For instance, throughout Africa and elsewhere – millions of adult AIDS patients are cared for at home by their parents. On their death, orphaned children left behind (currently, 14 million under the age of 15 in African countries alone) are mainly looked after by their grandparents. It is not only in developing countries that older persons’ role in development is critical. In Spain for example, caring for dependent and sick individuals is mostly done by older people (particularly older women).
Yet a report released today, the International Day of Older Persons, by the International Labour Organization (ILO), reveals that more than half of the global population aged 65 and above, representing 300 million people, is excluded from urgently needed long-term care (LTC) themselves.
The new ILO study LTC protection for older persons: A review of coverage deficits in 46 countries finds extreme deficits in social protection for older persons in need of long-term care due to a lack of 13.6 million LTC workers worldwide.
“We face these shortfalls despite the fact that the bulk of care – up to 80 per cent of LTC work – is provided by unpaid female family members of older persons. Their numbers exceed by far the numbers of formal LTC workers in all countries,” explains Xenia Scheil-Adlung, ILO Health Policy Coordinator and author of the study.