Sunday, October 01, 2023

Celebrating age


Today, 1st October, is the 33rd commemoration of the UN International Day of Older Persons.

The objectives of UNIDOP 23:

To increase global knowledge and awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and generate commitments among all stakeholders to strengthen the protection of the human rights of current and future generations of older persons around the world;

To share and learn from intergenerational models for the protection of human rights around the world; and

To call on Governments and UN entities to review their current practices with a view to better integrate a life course approach to human rights in their work, and to ensure the active and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, including civil society, national human rights institutions and older persons themselves, in the work on strengthening solidarity among generations and intergenerational partnerships.

Which I think means make things better for older persons. Although I'm happy to be corrected on that as there are lots of buzz words in there and I tend to turn off.

Anyway I'm all in favour of old people, which is a good thing as there are going to be lots of us. "The number of people aged 65 years or older worldwide is projected to more than double, rising from 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion in 2050. The number of people aged 80 years or older is growing even faster."

The statistic that amazes me most is this one: Globally, babies born in 2022 are expected to live 71.7 years on average, 25 years longer than those born in 1950.

Twenty-five years longer. That is a huge increase, I assume, due to the improvement in the promotion of good health practices, and better prevention and treatment. Sadly I'm afraid life spans will still be unequal internationally, and even nationally.

So here's to all you bloggers out there - most of whom I suspect fall into the Older Person category. From what I've read of you we're all doing our best to keep our brains and bodies moving and working.

Here's to Older Persons!

6 comments:

Cop Car said...

Life expectancies have, indeed, risen amazingly in the past century. At birth, my life expectancy was in the order of 65-66 years. I am now 85.5 years old. Were a female to be born into our family, now, her life expectancy might be just under 80 years. It's understandable why my primary care physician told me (at my annual wellness check in January) that I should not worry about longevity...that I had already achieved it.

Happy UN International Day of Older Persons to all elders - especially to those who are my elders.

Boud said...

Happy day to us all!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Yay for all of us!

Abby said...

Happy Old People Day!

Anvilcloud said...

The demographics are fascinating.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

And I too fall into the older folks category, but we are all still moving along which is great. By the way, we will be traveling in the UK in mid October, so I wondered about your location. I would have sent you an email, but there was none listed. Please feel free to contact me by way of my email listed on the blog. It is always fun to meet up sith a fellow blogger whenever possible.