Participants at the 2014 conference, ‘Older People in Ageing Societies: Burden or Resource?’. More than 200 participants from 120 organisations in 29 Asian and Pacific countries attended the regional conference. [1]

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Worldwide, the number of persons aged 60 years and over is projected to reach 2 billion by 2050 - that is, 1 in every 5 persons. Ongoing decline in fertility rates, together with increasing life expectancy, has resulted in an ageing population for many nations, including those in the Asia-Pacific region. There is now an urgent need to acknowledge the implications of this demographic trend.

In order to delve into the issue, more than 200 participants from 120 organisations in 29 Asian and Pacific countries gathered for a Regional Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 1-4 September 2014. The regional conference aimed to share experiences and develop common perspectives on the theme, “Older People in Ageing Societies: Burden or Resource?”. The conference was led by HelpAge International, a rights-based international non-governmental organisation, with support from UNFPA and the European Union.

Ageing in Asia

Asia is witnessing unprecedented growth in the population of older people, especially in East and Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia will see older persons constituting 20 percent of the total population by 2050. Meanwhile, South Korea, Singapore and China will see a rise in the proportion of the elderly to the total population from about 15 percent today to some 40 percent by 2050.

Increased longevity is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. People are living longer and healthier lives because of improved nutrition, sanitation, health care, education and economic well-being. At the same time, population ageing presents social, economic and cultural challenges to individuals, families, societies and the global community.

Addressing these issues, three UNFPA publications on ageing were presented at the conference by representatives from the Indonesia and Iran Country Offices and the Pacific Sub-Regional Office.

Dr. Richard J. Makalew, the UNFPA Indonesia National Programme Officer for Population and Development, presentedIndonesia on the Threshold of Population Ageing. The publication, released as part of UNFPA Indonesia’s monograph series, was based on data from the 2010 Population Census, which recorded 18 million older persons aged 60 years and above, making up 7.6 percent of the population.

At the conference, Mr. Richard J. Makalew, National Programme Officer for Population and Development, presented a publication titled, Indonesia on the Threshold of Population Ageing, released as part of UNFPA Indonesia’s monograph series.

“Indonesia has been described as a ‘moderately ageing country’, and the data indicates that there is still some time before the working-age population decreases,” Dr. Makalew said at the event.

“There is a ‘window of opportunity’ open only for a short period of time, of approximately 10 years, to prepare young workers to become highly qualified human capital, with the skills and competencies to become competitive in the global labour market so that they are ready and prepared when they are ageing,” he added.

Three UNFPA publications on ageing were presented at the conference. The representatives at the joint presentation included (from left to right), Dr. Richard J. Makalew from the Indonesia Country Office, Mr. Kambiz Kabiri from the Iran office, Mr. Andreas Demmke from the Pacific Sub-Regional Office, and Mr. Nicholas McTurk, from the Asia and the Pacific Regional Office (APRO).

Action on ageing

To prepare for Indonesia’s projected ageing population, Social Affairs Minister Dr. Makmur Sunusi said at the conference that the Government of Indonesia was looking for ways to ensure that older persons could either continue employment and lead independent lives, or be appropriately cared for.

“Investments in older people make sense because they proactively address economic, health and social issues which will mitigate or even help prevent costly problems further in the future. And, indeed, the contribution of a productive and healthy group of older persons will support and enhance Indonesia’s social and economic development for years to come”, he said.

Dr. Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo, Research Associate at the Demographic Institute at the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia, agreed that with the right investments, older people in ageing populations could be viewed as a resource for their societies rather than a burden. She said that addressing negative perceptions of older people in the Asia-Pacific would be important in the decades to come.

“The capacity of older persons − or anyone at all − to participate as equal members of their community can be affected by low income, language difficulties, poor health and bad mobility et cetera, but also by our perceptions”, she said.

Looking forward

A number of priorities for the future were identified during the conference, namely (i) gaining a better understanding of the care needs and situations of older people in developing country contexts; (ii) expanding partnerships in responding to the care challenge; (iii) developing and sharing models of affordable and sustainable care services, notably community based care models; (iv) promoting training of care givers; and (v) increasing national and regional advocacy to help put care of older people on policy agenda.

Participants pledged to follow up on the priorities by developing and implementing strategies on aged care in the region; continuing and increasing the focus on evidence-based research for ageing-related policy- and decision-making; developing community-based care service models; and supporting efforts to involve the elderly in the processes of formulating policies, implementing programmes, and in monitoring and evaluation.

Lubna Baqi, UNFPA Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said that ageing populations also needed more attention in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Addressing population ageing is a vital aspect of sustainable and equitable development, and should be part of the global framework being developed to follow the Millennium Development Goals, she said.