Mr. Chairman,

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to address The Second World Assembly of Ageing in Madrid. On behalf of my delegation, I would like to congratulate you on being elected as chairman. We are confident that we shall arrive at constructive conclusions in revising the commitments made in Vienna 20 years ago and in setting a long-term strategy for the years to come.

Mr. Chairman,

The population, not only in developed countries but also in developing countries, is getting older. However, Population in Turkey has had a young age structure since the establishment of the Republic due to persistent high fertility rates and relatively low life expectancy. Consequently, the median age for the total population remained below 25 until the 1990s.

The proportion of the elderly in Turkey will rise from 6 million in 2002, to 12 milliom in 2025; this will undoubtedly put considerable pressure on the social and economic services provided to this group of the population and create a greater concern for policy making.

Given the demographic and societal changes as well as the need to adjust our attitudes and policies to today's society, we believe that promotion of economic growth is the main element to respond to the challenges of creating a society for all ages with an ageing population. Although population ageing has focused attention on the old age component of the dependency ratio, especially on the financing of pensions, the fundamental economic issues are how to achieve a transfer of current output from those in work to those in retirement and whether the transfer will be large enough to satisfy the expectations of the latter without frustrating those of the former. Therefore, we believe, in both developed and developing countries the emphasis should be given to equitable and sustainable growth without losing sight of the indispensable inter-linkages between developed and developing economies.

In most of the countries, social security systems face many challenges in adapting to changes in family structure, emergence of more unstable work patterns, and, of course, changes in the age profile of populations.

Social security system in Turkey is based primarily on social insurance, funded mainly from contributions by employers and employees. The state does not make any regular contributions to financing of social security. But, the state pays for deficit of the publicly mandated insurance organisations. As of the year 2000, the pension programs in Turkey covered approximately 87 percent of the population. However, the social security system in Turkey has undergone a reform process, which we believe at least, would improve the system.

Mr. Chairman,

Health is an important issue for all people. But for ageing people health is not just an important issue but also an urgent issue to be solved for developing countries. According to the World Health Declaration, the improvement of the health and well being of all persons is the ultimate goal of social and economic development. In order to meet the challenges of ageing populations, it is crucial to achieve a new balance between health promotion, disease prevention and curative care, which incorporates a holistic, intersectoral and life-long approach to positive health.

Among the objectives and strategies of Turkey to achieve the purpose of "Health for All", the objective regarding ageing proposes improvements in the health and well-being, and active participation of older persons in the society.

For many years, Turkey has been implementing several policies towards the alleviation of poverty. These policies have been implemented through the functioning of various organisations and through social aid programs that are mainly financed by the government budgets and donations. The main objective of these organisations and programs is to provide a safety net for the poor and elderly who are not covered by other social security programs.

Mr. Chairman,

Existing international instruments, including the Millennium Declaration, reaffirm the principle that no individual should be denied the opportunity to participate in society and to benefit from economic and social developments. Older persons are at a greater risk of being denied that fundamental right. There are particular challenges for countries like Turkey, which have undergone rapid industrialisation and urbanisation where older persons very often find themselves left behind in rural areas without any immediate family or access to adequate infrastructure for maintaining their well-being. Furthermore, traditions that enable solidarity in the society and strong family ties in Turkey, which can be considered as social capital that we have enjoyed so far, are weakening with the transformation of the demographic and social structure. Hence, we believe, it is time to devise new forms of national and international responses to this challenge.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.