The benefits of age should be rocognized

JAKARTA (JP): Aging is a natural process and should be welcomed. There is much an individual can do to remain active and healthy in later life.

But many still do not realize the importance for older people to go on playing a part in society.

According to the World Health Organization, there are some commonly believed myths concerning older people:

1. Most older people live in developed countries.

In fact, the reverse is true. Most older people, over 60 percent of them, live in developing countries. There are currently about 580 million older people in the world, with 355 million in developing countries. By 2020, there will be 1,000 million, with over 700 million in developing countries.

Life expectancy has risen and is expected to go on rising in almost every part of the world. Improvement in sanitation, housing, nutrition and medical innovations have all contributed to the steep increase in the number of people reaching older age.

Sharp increases in life expectancy have been accompanied by substantial falls in fertility all over the world, mainly due to modern contraceptive methods.

2. Older people are all the same. "Older people" constitute a very diverse group. Many older people lead active and healthy lives, while some much younger "older people" have a poorer quality of life.

People age in unique ways, depending on a large variety of factors, including their gender, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and whether they live in industrialized or developing countries, in urban or rural settings. Climate, geographical location, family size, life skills and experience are all factors that make people less and less alike as they advance in age.

The differences are further increased by disease experiences throughout life which may accelerate the aging process.

Differences in education level, income and in social roles and expectations during all stages of a person's life increase the diversity of aging.

Poverty is clearly linked to a shorter life span and poorer health in older age. Less well-off people tend to live in more harmful environments. For older people living in poverty, access to adequate nutrition is often in jeopardy.

3. Men and women age the same way. Women and men age differently. First of all, women live longer than men. Part of women's advantage with respect to life expectancy is biological.

Currently, female life expectancy at birth ranges from just over 50 years in the least developed countries to well over 80 in many developed countries, where the typical female advantage in life expectancy ranges from five to eight years. As a result, the oldest people in most parts of the world are predominantly women.

However, longer lives do not necessarily translate into healthier lives and patterns of health and illness in women and men show marked differences. Women's longevity makes them more likely to suffer from the chronic diseases commonly associated with old age -- such as osteoporosis, diabetes, hypertension, incontinence and arthritis -- than men. Men are more likely to suffer from hearth disease and stroke, but as women age, these diseases become the major causes of death and disability for women too.

4. Older people are frail. Far from being frail, the vast majority of older people remain physical fit well into later life. As well as being able to carry out the tasks of daily living, they continue to play an active part in community life. In other words, they maintain high "functional capacity".

5. Older people have nothing to contribute. The truth is that older people make innumerable contributions to their families, societies and economies. The conventional view that perpetuates this myth tends to focus on participation in the labor force and its decline with increasing age.

It is widely assumed that the fall in numbers of older people in paid work is due to a decline in functional capacity. This does not by any means equate to inability to work. Indeed, the physical requirements of many jobs have been reduced by technological advances, permitting severely disabled people to be fully economically productive.

The widely held belief that older people have nothing to contribute also relies on the notion that only paid occupations count. However, substantial contributions are made by older people in unpaid work, including agriculture and the informal sector. Many economies worldwide depend to a large extent on these activities but few of them are included in the assessment of national economic activities, often leaving contributions made by older citizens unnoticed and undervalued.

6. Older people are an economic burden on society. Older people contribute in innumerable ways to the economic development of their societies. However, two concurrent developments have contributed to the myth that societies will not be able to afford to provide economic support and health care for older people in the years to come.

One of these developments is the growing realization of the sheer numbers of citizens who will be living to older ages in the next century. The second one is the greater emphasis on market forces regarding the role of the state in providing income security and health care for its citizens.

Most older people around the world continue to work, in both paid and unpaid jobs, making a significant contribution to the economic prosperity of their communities. In fact, in national economies which are dominated by agriculture, most older people, men and women, continue to work in farm production until they are physically unable to carry out their tasks, which is often very late in life. And in developed societies, there is a growing recognition that older people should be fully enabled to work as long as they desire.

Age should in no way prevent or hinder a person from getting a job. Indeed, the benefits of age should be recognized and rewarded. (ste)