PAHO Region Faces Senior Boom

Active members of the over-60 crowd enjoy a senior dance in Chopinzinho, Brazil.  © Armando Waak/PAHO

A new report released by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in January provides the first comprehensive overview of the effects of an aging population in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to the report, the number of people aged 60 and over will grow by a million people per year through the end of this decade. By 2025, the number of elderly will increase to 100 million (from 42 million in 2000), and at least 10 percent of this age group will be 80 and over.

This "senior boom" presents major challenges for the region's health systems, according to The State of Aging and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean, prepared by PAHO and the Merck Institute for Aging and Health. The report is part of the two institutions' efforts to improve health care for the elderly throughout the region.

According to data presented in the report, 60 percent of the elderly in Latin America and the Caribbean are women. More than half live in urban areas and have no more than a primary education.

Unlike in developed countries, the "demographic explosion" of the elderly in Latin America and the Caribbean is taking place in a context of weak economies and growing levels of poverty as well as social and economic inequality. For these reasons, those who reach age 60 during the first decade of this century are likely to have worse health and more disability than their counterparts in developed countries, according to the report.

The report urges countries to ensure that their elderly have access to medical treatment as well as to primary health care on a permanent basis. An estimated 70 percent of the physical decline brought by aging is related to modifiable risk factors such as poor nutrition, smoking and lack of access to health services and screening tests.

"We hope this report will serve as a catalyst for improvement and advancement in geriatric care, and we hope that this report will help foster inter-American cooperation as we work toward our common goal of providing all our citizens a better quality of life," said PAHO Director Mirta Roses Periago.

According to the report, in countries such as Cuba and Puerto Rico, there will soon be more people over 60 than under 15. In the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama, there will, within a few years, be at least one elderly person for every two children. In the Andean countries, the ratio of elderly to children will double in two decades.