UNITED NATIONS WORKING TO UNCOVER 'THE OLDEST-OLD'
Press Release
POP/629
UNITED NATIONS WORKING TO UNCOVER 'THE OLDEST-OLD'
19961205 NEW YORK, 5 December (DESIPA) -- The elderly population of the world has become an issue of concern and challenge in many developed and developing countries as their numbers have begun to grow rapidly, according to the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis.However, the elderly are not a homogeneous group. The oldest-old, those 80 years of age or older, are one of the fastest growing population segments in the world. Their concerns and needs are often quite different from the younger elderly (those aged 60 to 79), but little has been known about the oldest-old. With the numbers of the oldest-old increasing rapidly, demographers and other scientists are taking notice and beginning to "uncover" them separately in their studies.
The United Nations organized a Working Group on Projecting Old-age Mortality and Its Consequences from 3 to 5 December in New York in order to make sure that the oldest-old get their proper attention. The Working Group was organized by the Population Division, in cooperation with the United States Bureau of the Census and the National Institute for Ageing, and an active non-governmental organization in the field, the American Association of Retired Persons. Attending the Working Group were some of the most prominent international experts in the area of ageing and mortality from around the world.
A primary goal of the meeting was to make the oldest-old an explicit group in the official United Nations population estimates and projections. (For background information on the recently released 1996 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections, see Press Release POP/626/Rev.1, of 14 November).
Beginning with the next round of population estimates and projections due out in 1998, the United Nations will separately consider populations in age groups 80 to 84, 85 to 89, 90 to 94, 95 to 99 and 100 or over. That will mark the first time that the international community will have consistent estimates of the number of people in those oldest age groups for all countries of the world.
There are many technical and difficult questions to be resolved in undertaking this activity. Particularly problematic is the low quality of age
reporting among elderly persons in most countries. The Working Group has carefully reviewed these issues, and the Population Division, which is responsible for the official United Nations population estimates and projections, is now moving forward with implementation.
Ageing issues are not just a matter of numbers. The Working Group has considered broad issues related to old age mortality and ageing. The Working Group, for example, discussed the changing patterns of disease and mortality (what is often called the epidemiological transition), focusing on implications for older persons and the quality of life of older persons and intergenerational relations, including needs of different age groups and social equity.
A fundamental consequence of this Working Group and the work envisioned by the Population Division during the next few years is that the oldest-old will no longer be invisible.
For more information, contact the Director of the Population Division, telephone (212) 963-3208 or fax (212) 963 2147.
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