"... the transition to a positive, active and developmentally oriented view of ageing may well result from action by elderly people themselves, through the sheer force of their growing numbers and influence. The collective consciousness of being elderly, as a socially unifying concept, can in that way become a positive factor" (International Plan of Action on Ageing, 1/ para. 32).

The Plan of Action discusses the multi-dimensional nature of ageing. It draws attention to the potential of older persons to take action in ensuring a positive and developmentally oriented view of old age. It points to the need for policies and programmes to reflect the aspirations of older persons, for example, by permitting a balance of material and spiritual well-being. The Plan of Action lists 62 recommendations for action in the areas, inter alia, of education, employment and income security, housing and the environment, health and hygiene, social welfare and the family. These recommendations have been expressed in more operational terms in the global targets on ageing for the year 2001 (A/47/339, sect. III).

Among the sectoral issues, ensuring the means of livelihood and income security for older persons has become a major concern for all countries. The economic situation of older persons is affected in many places by loosening attachments to the workforce, skills obsolescence, devaluation of savings and pensions, and old-age as well as family and society-wide poverty. In this context, the situation of older women gives rise to particular concern as they tend to live longer than men do and with fewer resources and societal entitlements.

Pre-industrial societies, though constrained in other ways, generally provide older persons with multiple and meaningful roles. In post-industrial societies, as they become more service and information-oriented, roles resembling those prevailing in traditional societies can often be recovered in form, if not content. These may include, for example, participation in micro-enterprises and cooperatives, modern applications of traditional healing; cultural transmission in kindergartens, schools and universities; advisory services; and, in situations of conflict, active roles as mediators and counsellors.

In developing policies for the older population, its heterogeneity must be borne in mind, as must the particular circumstances of certain groups of older persons, such as migrants, refugees, older persons without families, destitute elders and the frail. Frail older persons, for example, require a continuum of care from home-help, which supports "ageing in place", to institutional care, when independent living is no longer possible.

In preparing for the Year, the discussion and specific measures outlined in the International Plan of Action on Ageing and the global targets on ageing for the year 2001 may serve as catalysts for practical actions supporting the independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity of older persons as stated in the Principles.

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