International Development CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Age International
1. Age International is a subsidiary charity of Age UK and a member of the HelpAge global network. Age International is the only UK charity focusing on older people in developing countries. Our mission is to help older people around the world to overcome poverty, claim their rights and challenge discrimination, so they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives.
2. Age International raises funds in the UK to support the relief and development work of HelpAge in over 40 developing countries. We also raise awareness in the UK about the needs of older people in developing countries. And we engage in influencing and campaigning work to change policies and approaches towards older people.
3. Age International is a member of Beyond 2015 and also endorses the submission to the IDC inquiry made by the “Beyond 2015 UK” group.
4. We offer the following contribution to the International Development Committee inquiry on post-2015 development goals.
The content of future goals: what would be a good set of global goals? What continuity should there be with the MDGs, and how should the unfulfilled MDGs be taken forward?
5. When the Millennium Development Goals came into existence, they did not take into account the demographic realities facing countries globally. A massive transformation is taking place that is changing the structure of societies; population ageing is one of the most significant trends in the 21st Century.
6. “In 1950, there were 205 million persons aged 60 years or over in the world. By 2012, the number of older persons increased to almost 810 million. It is projected to reach 1 billion in less than ten years and double by 2050, reaching 2 billion.”i By 2050, there will be more people in the world age 60 and over than children under 15 for the first time in history.ii
7. 80% of the 2 billion people over the age of 60 in 2050 will live in developing countries.iii Of the current 15 countries with more than 10 million older persons, seven of these are developing countries.iv The most rapid increases of population ageing are expected in less developed regions and are projected to be over five times as high as that in the more developed regions.v
8. Figure 1 vividly illustrates that population ageing has already substantially transformed the structure of societies globally between 1950 and 2010 and that this trend is due to increase. The graphic for Africa makes clear that even the poorest of countries will be affected and that of Asia shows that population ageing in developing countries is a reality today.
9. Older people can be particularly vulnerable to poverty and marginalised in society, and yet people in later life are completely absent in the Goals, Targets and Indicators of the MDGs.
10. The new global development framework should be responsive to the demographic changes described above and the way in which these changes impact on global poverty. In particular, the post-2015 framework should include broader development goals that are responsive to different stages of the lifecourse, with targets and indicators that are relevant for people of all ages.
11. For older people, greater longevity can mean greater vulnerability. Reduced physical capacity and mobility impairments, ill health, mental illness and dementia, and age discrimination can all compound to create multiple layers of disadvantage.
12. To address some of these challenges, greater emphasis must be given to improving healthy life for people of all ages under the new global development framework. Particular action needs to be taken to tackle non-communicable diseases such as heart and lung disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia, across the lifecourse.
13. Greater attention must also be given to older people and all marginalised groups when they are most vulnerable—in emergency and humanitarian settings.
14. To encourage a more effective response of the global community to this demographic change, the new global development framework must encourage greater recognition of where resources within societies can be better mobilised to tackle poverty. People in later life, despite their advancing years, make substantial contributions to society through their experience and knowledge, economically in the informal and formal sectors, as carers, and as educators. For example, in countries that are worst affected by HIV and AIDS, older people’s income and their role as carers have been shown to be a vital part of the household economy.
15. The new global development framework must make explicit how people of all ages contribute to the alleviation and eradication of poverty and encourage greater support to strengthen these responses. For example, social protection in the form of non-contributory social pensions is proven to be a key strategy for reducing poverty, vulnerability and inequality for people of all ages. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that social pensions both reduce the poverty and vulnerability of older people, and result in net contributions to multigenerational household economies and the wider community.vi
Targets: was the MDG “target-based” approach a success? Should it be retained? How should progress be measured?
16. It is clear that targets act as a catalyst for action and enable greater mobilisation of resources. However, the overwhelming absence of people in later life in the current targets is fundamentally age-discriminatory. The next global development framework must respond to the needs and aspirations of all age groups and make visible not only the poverty of older people, but also the contribution they can make to society.
17. To achieve this, any new goals, targets and indicators should be appropriate for each stage of the lifecourse. To meet these age-inclusive goals, targets and indicators, data gathered for research and monitoring by national governments, the UN, and development agencies need to include all age groups and be disaggregated by age and sex to create a clearer picture of where poverty and vulnerability lie.
18. A specific target on life expectancy at birth as a measure of human development for all ages would significantly improve the understanding that development needs to include all age groups and will lead to more effective responses to poverty.
19. A further target could focus on improving healthy life at any age to reduce the time people spend in ill health. Promoting good health and healthy behaviour, including in late life, will yield significant dividends of increased productivity and tax revenue, decreased demand on public services and less time spent in ill health.
The process: are the right voices being heard? What are the opportunities for and constraints to global consensus?
20. The commitment to meeting the needs of older people begins with listening to their concerns. The UN has taken many positive steps in recognising the need for greater consultation with civil society in the development of a post-2015 framework. If this process is to be meaningful, however, we must be mindful of the challenges that the most marginalised and vulnerable in society will face in taking part in these consultations.
21. National-level consultations must actively seek the views of groups that are not currently recognised as traditional development actors. Where older people’s participation is concerned, this may mean taking into consideration mobility restrictions and visual impairments, minimising the impact that travel will have on the individual and their family, and providing necessary resources to ensure that participants’ health and wellbeing is not undermined as a result of taking part in any meetings.
22. Alternative sources of information, such as participatory research, must also be used to better understand the needs and aspirations of all marginalised and vulnerable groups.
23. Participation, however, should not stop at the consultation phase. Older people need to be actively involved in the planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating of any programme that affects them, their families and their communities.
Figure 1
POPULATION PYRAMIDS OVER TIME: GLOBAL, AFRICA, ASIA
October 2012
References
i UNFPA and HelpAge International, Ageing in the Twenty-First Century: A celebration and a Challenge, London & New York, 2012
ii United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, 2011, New York
iii UNFPA and HelpAge International, Ageing in the Twenty-First Century: A celebration and a Challenge, London & New York, 2012.
iv ibid.
v United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Population Division, World Population Ageing 2009, New York, 2010
vi www.pension-watch.net