A major study published by the United Nations has warned that the growing numbers of the elderly presented significant challenges to welfare, pension and health care systems in both developing and developed nations.
And it bemoans the fact that skills and knowledge that older people have acquired are going to waste in societies rather than being used to their full.
“We must commit to ending the widespread mismanagement of ageing,” said Richard Blewitt, chief executive of HelpAge International, which collaborated on the report, Ageing in the 21st Century.