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Active Ageing
Jun 2012
Working Paper
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.
Old-age Poverty Has a Woman’s Face
Nov 2022
Working Paper
This year marks the 20-year milestone of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing a landmark agreement in which Governments committed to “building a society for all ages”. The Madrid Plan of Action contains a broad range of objectives including that of reducing poverty among older persons. Poverty is a particular risk for older persons. Most people work less or stop working altogether at some point in old age either for health reasons family responsibilities because they must or want to retire at the statutory retirement age or because discrimination undermines their employment opportunities. While many older persons remain productive many of their contributions to their countries’ economies to their communities and to their families are not formally recognized or paid. Their economic well-being depends on the availability of public income support affordable health care family support and savings to a greater extent than that of the working-age population. Because of the disadvantages they experience throughout their lives older women may suffer from higher levels of poverty than old men.
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Apr 2010
Working Paper
While people are living longer it is important to improve the quality of every stage of life. Therefore UNECE member States have committed to implement health policies ensuring that increased longevity is accompanied by the highest attainable standard of health1. In the coming years and decades the number of elderly people in the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will rise sharply challenging societies’ ability to care for those in need.
Cooperation on Ageing Policies in the UNECE Region
Nov 2011
Working Paper
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.
Cryptoassets and So-called “Stablecoins”: Where Do We Go From Here?
Jun 2022
Working Paper
The market capitalization of cryptoassets and so-called “stablecoins” has fallen by over 50% since November 2021 with the drop over twice as sharp as that in the S&P 500. While they have been touted for their potential to increase the efficiency of financial transactions and to support financial inclusion their high volatility and largely unregulated and quasianonymous nature has raised concerns over investor protection and financial integrity and increasingly also financial stability and international spillovers. Some of these risks have materialized during the May 2022 market rout lending new urgency to calls for enhanced regulation and supervision. Policy solutions include bringing cash- and asset-backed stablecoins under the regulatory umbrella reviewing and updating regulations to safeguard financial stability and integrity and harness technology strengthening cooperation across sectors and jurisdictions and addressing underlying domestic macroeconomic and structural challenges.
Integration and Participation of Older Persons in Society
Nov 2009
Working Paper
Realizing a society for all ages is the declared goal of Governments in member States of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. To this end achieving the integration and participation of older persons in society are important elements. This policy brief outlines the main strategies that may be considered to increase participation of older persons in political and economic life and to improve their access to transport appropriate housing and cultural activities. It highlights the importance of balanced intergenerational relationships based on mutual respect. Efforts may be made to reduce ageism and to destigmatize old age. The potential of volunteering may also be used – both in support of older generations and by the older generations themselves.
Advancing Intergenerational Solidarity
Aug 2010
Working Paper
Demographic transition in Europe has led to changing household structure with a potential impact on the dynamic between generations. As a consequence of living longer and later childbearing most adults in Europe belong to a family network of three generations with which they share several decades together in a complex web of ties. The solidarity among generations is a key feature of the economic financial and social systems in Europe. However the rapidly changing demographic context particularly in combination with the demands of the recent economic crisis could create tensions among generations and represent a challenge to the existing solidarity and cooperation among people of different age groups.
Why Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration Matters for Sustainable Development
Jan 2023
Working Paper
International migration is an integral part of the development process in countries of origin transit and destination. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes several targets related directly to international migration or migrants. The most explicit among them is target 10.7 which calls on countries to facilitate orderly safe regular and responsible migration and mobility of people including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. Other migration-related targets in the 2030 Agenda include strengthening and retaining the health workforce in developing countries (target 3.c) providing scholarships for study abroad (target 4.b) respecting the labour rights of migrant workers (target 8.8) reducing the costs of transferring remittances (target 10.c) ending human trafficking (targets 5.2 8.7 and 16.2) establishing legal identity including through birth registration (target 16.9) and disaggregating data by various characteristics including migratory status (target 17.18). In addition international migration can facilitate the achievement of other Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda including those related to eradicating poverty facilitating access to health care education and decent work and promoting economic growth and gender equality.
Migration and Older Age
Jul 2016
Working Paper
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.
Beneficial Ownership Information
Jan 2023
Working Paper
Domestic public finance is essential to financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) providing public goods and services increasing equity and helping manage macroeconomic stability. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda places domestic resource mobilization at the core of the actions that countries need to take to deliver sustainable development. Countries have been working to increase revenues so that they can invest in the SDGs but tax avoidance tax evasion and corruption are undermining countries’ efforts. Illicit financial flow (IFF) is the term that covers these activities (see Figure 1) that cross borders and reduce the availability of resources for financing sustainable development including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Agenda Member States committed to eliminate IFFs. Since 2015 they have taken many actions to boost transparency and combat IFFs but there is more work to be done. Eliminating IFFs will require further actions across the sphere of national and global governance as well as international cooperation. Transparency about the actors in economic and financial matters is an essential component in the ability of country authorities to enforce the law reduce corruption and ensure taxpayers pay all taxes that are due. Increasing the accuracy and transparency of beneficial ownership information is an important component of solutions for reducing tax avoidance and evasion and combatting corruption and money-laundering.
Migration Trends and Families
May 2022
Working Paper
In preparation for the thirtieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family 2024 UNDESA supports research and awareness-raising activities on the impact of current megatrends including technological demographic urbanization migration and climate change trends on families. In 2022 migration (along with urbanization) and its impact on families is the topic under consideration. As migration-related issues are visible throughout the 2030 Agenda and elsewhere at the United Nations forum focusing on migrants and their families through effective policies grows in importance and deserves more attention.
Ensuring SDG Progress Amid Recurrent Crises
Jul 2022
Working Paper
SDG progress has been set back and the outlook faces uncertainty given the cumulative and amplified impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic the war in Ukraine and climate change. This brief examines the channels through which these three shocks are impacting the SDGs and their implications for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through recurrent crises. COVID-19 is estimated to have caused nearly 15 million deaths globally and brought the economy and people’s lives to a standstill for long periods in many parts of the world. The pandemic and the containment measures to control it significantly slowed economic growth increased unemployment raised poverty and hunger widened inequality and caused additional adverse impacts on women and children in many countries around the world. With uneven access to vaccines and treatments and the continuing emergence of new variants the pandemic continues to exert a malign influence on sustainable development.
Older Persons as Consumers
Nov 2009
Working Paper
In an ageing society one aim is to further enhance the social economic political and cultural participation of older persons. […] Older persons should therefore be recognized as a significant consumer group with shared and specific needs interests and preferences. Governments service providers and civil society should take into account the views of older persons on the design of products and delivery of services.
Images of Older Persons
Jan 2012
Working Paper
The economic and societal implications that result from demographic change may have an impact on how certain generations or age-groups are perceived by the majority of the population or community. Often older family members or neighbours are respected and well integrated members of their community. They also often dispose of a considerable knowledge experience and consumer power through life-long accumulated savings. Older persons are thus able to assist younger family members and their community with advice through gained experience. But in some cases older persons are faced with neglect and negative stereotypes. A displacement of older persons into segregated communities an undervaluing of their contributions to society and negative media portrayals contribute to a decrease in face-to-face contact with older persons foster the growth of a gap between generations and a general lack of empathy towards people of different age-groups.
A Just Green Transition: Concepts and Practice So Far
Nov 2022
Working Paper
Achieving the transition to an environmentally sustainable and climate-safe future is a matter of justice in itself—people in vulnerable situations poor countries and future generations stand to suffer the most from climate change and environmental degradation—but how it is done also matters. A green transition is already taking place creating jobs and economic opportunities and its potential in the medium—and long-term is much greater. Inevitably however a transformation on the scale necessary to contain climate change also implies losses of jobs livelihoods and public and private revenues in many areas and not necessarily where the benefits will accrue most directly. It also entails changes in the way energy and food needs are met and land is used generating other types of social and environmental challenges. Breaking the inertial high-carbon development paths requires strong political support worldwide and at all levels. Greening strategies that do not take into account the political economy of the transition and the economic and social well-being of affected communities are therefore likely to be politically fragile and vulnerable to stalemates and reversals. In this context calls for a just transition have been increasingly prominent in global national and subnational policy circles.
On the Importance of Monitoring Inequality in Life Expectancy
Dec 2022
Working Paper
In recent decades all regions of the world have seen substantial progress in life expectancy at birth which was estimated to be at 72.8 years in 2019 compared with 64.2 years three decades ago. As importantly life expectancy has increased at all ages such that a person at age 65 in 2019 was likely to live 6.2 years longer than in the early 1950s (United Nations 2022). But life expectancy differs significantly across countries and within them. Inequalities in health and in life expectancy across countries have received attention from the international community which recognized that such inequalities are unfair and beyond an individual’s control. Assessing country-level inequality in life expectancy is therefore useful to examine whether outcomes in countries with high increases in life expectancy differ by their social and health policies. For instance reducing inequality in life expectancy across countries points to the role that health policies play in controlling a wide range of diseases responsible for disparities in child and maternal mortality.
Promoting Non-discrimination in Public Administration: Some Entry Points
Jun 2022
Working Paper
Discrimination or unjust differential treatment on the basis of for example sex race or ethnicity age income or wealth disability caste sexual orientation religion or migrant status causes harm and drives exclusion in social economic political and cultural life. Where it occurs in the delivery of public services it further undermines public trust and confidence in public institutions. In recent years growing evidence of discrimination has brought the issue to the forefront of many societies and provoked both individual and collective reflection. Although the principles of equality and non-discrimination are widely entrenched discrimination affects public administration as it does society in general. There is no comparable data across countries that fully sheds light on the level and extent of discrimination by public administration. This may be due to factors such as the difficulties of measuring discrimination under-reporting of incidents of discrimination and the limited public availability of such reporting and how broadly non-discrimination is approached (for instance which groups are protected and to what extent). A limited amount of information is available for some countries and country groupings (mainly developed countries) and some social groups.
Abuse of Older Persons
Oct 2013
Working Paper
Population ageing in UNECE member States has given rise to fears that abuse of older persons may increase in its incidence prevalence and complexity. Stereotypes may provide the breeding ground for abuse in society. Given the taboo attached to the topic abuse and neglect are often underreported. Older people may be silent for fear of exposing a family member losing services or being institutionalized. Therefore there is a lack of reliable internationally comparable data to evaluate the phenomenon.
Lifelong Learning
Mar 2010
Working Paper
Populations in the UNECE region are ageing rapidly. To maintain economic growth and standard of living people would need to work longer before they can retire. Regarding people who are currently in their working age demographic change may require to include those into the labour market who were previously not fully integrated such as early school leavers women and migrants. In a knowledge society this all requires a good standard of basic education as well as vocational training tertiary education information and communication technology (ICT) and language skills.
Caregiving in an Ageing World
Nov 2022
Working Paper
People in almost all countries are living longer. Globally babies born in 2022 are expected to live 71.7 years on average 25 years longer than those born in 1950. Rapidly ageing populations have increasing health and long-term care needs. As the forthcoming World Social Report 2023 discusses however today’s care and support systems for older persons are insufficient requiring greater policy attention. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed existing weaknesses across countries in approaches to long-term care and showed how these weaknesses can aggravate inequalities. Poor quality and underfunded care facilities insufficient provisions for care at home low wages and precarious working conditions for paid care workers all contributed to increasing the already significant threat of Covid-19 for older persons (United Nations 2020). The speed of change and the scale of the crisis have strengthened the call for fundamental reform of approaches to long-term care. Failure to do so will harm today’s older persons and those who care for them as well as future generations of older persons.
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