Mr. Chairman,

We are witnessing a revolution of global reach, a silent revolution, almost imperceptible, which nevertheless will have the greatest impact on the destiny of mankind in this XXI century, namely, the faster pace at which the world's population is ageing. This fact, Mr. Chairman, calls upon us, in this hospitable Spanish land, to celebrate and to reflect.

It calls upon us to celebrate, because the ageing of mankind represents a triumph of civilization, a remarkable conquest of science and technology in favor of life.

But it also calls upon us to reflect, because this demographic phenomenon resulting from a change in the trend of classic variables, fertility, mortality and international migration, poses to our generation extraordinary challenges to which we must respond with intelligence, responsibility, sensitivity and imagination.

The changes that have taken place within the international society, in particular in the population trends since the first world assembly on ageing, held in Vienna 20 years ago, as well as the dramatic and imminent changes foreseen in the structure of the world's population in the medium to long term, have compelled us to update the response given then by the international community to the problems of ageing, through the Vienna international plan of action adopted in 1982.

New realities and new problems demand new solutions. Generations of older persons live nowadays in a different world than that of 20 years ago. A world in which all expressions of human civilization: political ideas, ethical values, economy, finance, communications, information, culture, tend towards both globalization and uniformity. This happens in a world in which still persists the unsustainable coexistence of wealthy societies and those in which prevail poverty, hunger and underdevelopment.

In fact, a key element to understand the complexity of the challenges posed by ageing in our contemporary world, is that the process of ageing has intensified in developing countries in a way impossible to foresee two decades ago. And this process poses to this group of countries the outmost economic and social problems.

Uruguay has been facing these problems for some time now. Uruguay has the oldest population in Latin America. This reality is reflected in the following data: persons older than 60 years account for 17.35 per cent of the overall population and persons older than 65 years comprise nearly 13 per cent. Moreover, two other characteristics of this overall ageing of the Uruguayan population should be noted: the increasing ageing of the adult population over the age of 75 years and the growing predominance of women in the population aged 65 years and older. A growing percentage of these people that account for 43% live alone, being in general women.

The situation of Uruguay may be attributed to a number of factors, including the increase in life expectancy (71 years for men and 76 for women); a decline in fertility with low birth rates (2.49 children per woman); increased participation of women in the labor market; increase in social security benefits (nearly 40 per cent in the case of women); and emigration. Because of the last-named factor, the population replacement coefficient, approximately 17 per cent, is offset by the percentage of youth emigration, estimated at similar percentage. This means that the population that remains in the country is comprised of adults who increasingly are living longer and swelling the ranks of older adults.

In Uruguay there is a broad national regulatory framework with several institutions with wide competences on ageing matters, such as the social welfare bank (bps) and the national institute of solidarity with older adults (INASAM). Several laws and regulations have been adopted, to solve the most serious problems older persons must face, such as the law that provides housing to retired persons and pensioners; contributory health benefits; regulation of private establishments that offer permanent or temporary housing to older adults; specific tax exemptions; discounts on urban transport, discounts in theaters and other cultural events.

Providing these services and benefits destined to satisfy the needs of such a high percentage of the population is extremely expensive for the country. In 1995 social security outlays represented 17 per cent of GDP, with a tendency towards an increase in this percentage. This deviated resource could have been allocated to other productive uses and at the same time reduced the country's competitiveness due to the lack of investment and high labor costs, not to mention that the system suffered from a high rate of evasion and was under-financed.

That same year the social security system underwent a radical reform with technical support from the ILO and ECLA and financial support from the international development bank.

This new social security system is a mixed one and combines a common retirement scheme with a retirement scheme based on compulsory or optional individual savings, according to income bracket.

Thus, people who retire and participate in the individual savings scheme earn two pensions, one paid for by the social welfare bank and the other consisting in a monthly income based on the savings accumulated by the worker or contributor himself. In other words, an unearned component administered by the state is combined with a contributed component administered by public or privately owned entities.

Uruguay also has a wide network of social services for older adults that are part of a strategy to promote integration into communities. These include homes for the elderly, clubs for older adults, associations of retirees and pensioners, day-care centers, night shelters, home help services, universities for seniors, social tourism and a telephone support system, inter alia.

There is also a broad development in cooperation with civil society and non-governmental organizations, in particular the volunteer service sector that supports private non-profit institutions at the national level.

Mr. Chairman,

Our elders are our collective memory, our living history and the testimony of our past. They are the bond between the individual present of each one of us and our own private past. They are, therefore, part of our own identity. Our great challenge ahead of us, is to be able to offer ageing persons a healthy and safe environment, a society which offers them the possibility of fulfilling themselves and develop their human potential as individuals and as members of their communities. We must build a society for all ages, a society that fully integrates the older generations and at the same time benefits from the huge amount of experience, wisdom and energy that lies unused within.

To achieve those objectives it is imperative that all countries, developed and developing, coordinate their efforts, keep their promises and above all, generate the political will to solve the big pending problems: the eradication poverty and the achievement of a sustainable development for everybody. Therefore, it is of key importance the obtention of the necessary financial resources that are more than those which the international community currently allocates to international cooperation.

The international plan of action on ageing 2002, which we will adopt here, intends to cover all aspects related to ageing. The recommendations contained in this plan are oriented to ensure the actual enjoyment of those rights inherent to older persons and the role in society that corresponds to them and that they can play. Participation in society, job opportunities, training, quality of life, marginalization, access to knowledge and education, intergenerational solidarity, safety, social protection, healthcare, housing and image are, among others, the issues contained in the plan of action. We hope that this new plan for the ageing will prove useful as a guide and as inspiration to governments, international organizations and civil societies in their future actions.

Uruguay fully assumes its commitment to its older persons and to this end, it will continue to make efforts to ensure them health, safety and dignity in the last stages of their lives.

As a parting thought, i wish to share with you something i have observed in my capacity as chairman of the preparatory committee of this world assembly, namely, that the average age of a large proportion of the experts involved in the long and protracted negotiations of the plan of action, was thirty years.

I take this as a message of hope for older generations. Older persons throughout the world can be confident that their future is in good hands, in the hands of our current young people, our future elders.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, I wish to express our satisfaction for seeing you chair this assembly, together with the gratitude of the Uruguayan government for the generosity and hospitality of the people and government of Spain.

Thank you.