United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Policy Briefs on Ageing

Between 2001 and 2019, emergency crises in the UNECE region affected an estimated 130 million people, injuring over 90 million, and making nearly 674,000 people homeless. Though generally disproportionately impacted by emergency crises, older men and women are often neglected in disaster risk reduction strategies and emergency responses. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of older persons carrying the burden of severe illness and mortality as well as of acute loneliness and isolation. As of September 2020, nearly 9 out of 10 COVID-19 related deaths reported in the UNECE region have been among adults aged 65 years and older. Disaster risk reduction and preparedness plans need to be “older persons friendly and inclusive” to prevent and mitigate the UNECE | Standing Working Group on Ageing | www.unece.org/population | [email protected] UNECE Policy Brief on Ageing No. 25 November 2020 potentially devastating implications of emergency crises among them. The challenge is not only to protect older persons and ensure essential services provide for their needs, as part of the emergency response and recovery after crises, it is also to account for the diversity of this population group, recognize their capacities and harness their experience to maximize the preparedness for and minimize the impact of emergencies.

Ageism is the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination against people based on their age. Many older workers face ageism when looking for new jobs, training opportunities and career development or are pushed to leave into early retirement in times of economic recession. Ageism in the labour market is costly to businesses who do not make the most of their ageing workforce. At the individual level, ageism has been shown to negatively affect health and well-being. The complexity and intersectionality of the phenomenon needs to be addressed now. Deeply rooted stereotypes, prejudices and discriminatory practices take time to change. Combating ageism in the world of work requires removing ageist provisions in the legal and regulatory framework, addressing prejudice and negative stereotypes about older workers and encouraging age-inclusive and age-diverse workplaces that offer equal opportunities for all generations.

Policy responses to population ageing to date have primarily focused on adapting welfare systems to the challenges of demographic change. Much less attention is being paid to the opportunities and potentials that living longer holds for individuals, economies and society at large, and to tackling the barriers that currently hinder their full realization. Perceiving longevity mainly as a fiscal pressure and an obstacle to economic growth may trigger reforms that result in rising inequalities. This can occur when the cumulative disadvantages stemming from difficulties in transitions over the life course, ill health and disability and unpaid caregiving are insufficiently addressed. It also feeds into age-based stereotypes and negative attitudes towards older people. To change this, it is essential to better recognize the potentials of ageing societies and to enable people to live active and fulfilling lives as they age.

The UNECE region is experiencing a steady increase in the number and diversity of retired labour migrants and migrant eldercare workers. The international mobility of older persons is also on the rise. Yet the participation of migrants in the host communities and their access to welfare remains a challenging issue. Compared to native-born peers, older migrants are often more vulnerable to poor socio-economic and health status, social isolation and exclusion. Lower income, poorer working and housing conditions, including their concentration in low-income neighbourhoods, are among the factors affecting the life trajectories of many migrants. Migrant elder carers – independent of their age – often work informally without proper employment contracts and with limited access to health and social protection. There is, however, heterogeneity and variation in older migrants’ vulnerabilities and needs across and within ethnic groups, with consequent important welfare implications, which call for targeted policy responses at local, national, and international levels. A sound evidence base for such policy responses is lacking as older migrants are often overlooked in research, mainly due to a lack of data.

Diverse demands and needs regarding care along with demographic change call for new care arrangements to better respond to individual needs. Too often older people are left out of decision-making processes and forced into a passive role when it comes to care. The central aim of this Policy Brief is to present innovative and empowering strategies for care that give the user more influence and power. The inclusion of new and empowering strategies into the care setting broadens the scope of care, increases care coverage and improves quality, efficiency and target group orientation. The aim is to help older persons remain active as they age and to enhance their quality of life and overall well-being with care services tailored to their needs.

The way how persons age is determined by a variety of factors: biological pre-conditions, social circumstances, attitudes towards ageing, and life-style. The manner how an individual person ages may contribute to how long a person will live and how fit a person might be in the late period of life. Current policies on ageing may perceive 'old age' as a status rather than the result of a process. Some ageing policies may be aimed at providing services within this status rather than at empowering older persons to live independently. Here, a change of paradigm is needed. In order to gain the ability to remain active, the individual needs to invest in this process throughout the life course. Appropriate societal structures, incentives and awareness-raising would enable persons to live an active life-style as long as possible. Current societal and legal infrastructures may not fully provide those opportunities for active ageing.

Although ageing policies are often dealt with in the context of the national public policy agenda, there is also a need for regional, sub-regional and international cooperation on this topic, as many issues do not end at national borders. Regional cooperation may be helpful as states of the same region often share similar cultural, economic, or political contexts.

In many UNECE countries the average actual retirement age is below the statutory retirement age, which means that the labour market is losing a great deal of resources in terms of experience and labour capacity of older workers. Ageing societies, however, cannot afford to lose the highly valuable resource of older workers. If there are people aged 55 years or older who want to work, but cannot due to unfavourable conditions in the labour market, UNECE member States may wish to address this issue.