NOT GETTING OLDER, GETTING BETTER?

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HelpAge is launching the Global AgeWatch Index on 1 October, International Day of Older People.

The people on this planet are aging so quickly that most countries do not appear to be prepared to support their staggering numbers of old folks, according to a global study about to be released by the United Nations and an elder rights group.

The report ranks the social and economic well-being of old people in 91 countries, with Sweden coming out on top and Afghanistan at the bottom.

The report reflects what advocates for the old have been warning, with increasing urgency, for years: Nations are simply not working quickly enough to cope with a population greying faster than ever before. By the year 2050, for the first time in history, seniors over the age of 60 will outnumber children under the age of 15.

As the number and proportion of older people increases at an unprecedented rate, the Global AgeWatch Index will illustrate how the world is adapting to this new reality by ranking more than 90 countries in terms of how their older populations are faring.

This report states that wealthy nations are better prepared for aging than poor ones.

Sweden, where the pension system is now 100 years old, makes the top of the list because of its social support, education and health coverage, followed by Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada. The United States comes in eighth.

http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/