World’s elderly may number two billion by 2050: Report

Every ninth person in the world is aged 60 and above and their numbers will increase to one in five by 2050, numbering two billion elderly, a UN agency has concluded.

Every ninth person in the world is aged 60 and above and their numbers will increase to one in five by 2050, numbering two billion elderly, a UN agency has concluded.

HT Image

Those over 100 years of age too will witness an exponential 10-time growth from 316,600 in 2011 to 3.2 million by 2050, the ‘Ageing in the Twenty-First Century: A Celebration and A Challenge’ report said.

In the report, the United Nations Population Fund India (UNFPA) as well as other UN entities and international organisations like HelpAge International said the population of the world’s aged was growing steadily, leading to increased concern over their income security.

The world population in 2012 is just over seven billion. “In 1950, there were 205 million persons aged 60 years or over in the world. By 2012, the number of older persons increased to almost 810 million. It is projected to reach one billion in less than 10 years and double by 2050, reaching two billion,” the report said. Said UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon: “Population ageing can no longer be ignored.”

Giving reasons for the increase in the ageing population, it pointed out that life expectancy rose substantially in the recent years. “Life expectancy at birth has risen substantially across the world,” the report said.