A moment to lead on ageing with dignity
This article is authored by Aparna Mehrotra, director, UN System Coordination Division and senior executive advisor on ageing, UN Women.
Across cultures and continents, societies have long upheld the value of respect for older persons. In many traditions, intergenerational care is seen not just as a family responsibility but a moral foundation. However, as demographic change accelerates globally, traditional cultural norms alone are proving insufficient to meet the growing and evolving needs of ageing populations.
As we head to the International Day of Older Persons on October 1, countries face a pivotal moment: Whether to address population ageing with the urgency and structure it demands, or risk falling behind as demographic shifts outpace policy responses.
By 2050, the number of people aged 60 and over is expected to nearly double globally, reaching over two billion, with a majority being women. This transformation brings both promise and challenge. Ensuring that longer lives translate into healthier, more secure, and more participatory lives and societies requires a comprehensive approach.
In April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to establish an intergovernmental working group to draft a legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons. Often referred to as a “Convention,” this initiative builds on more than a decade of work by the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, which has consistently documented significant protection gaps.
While existing rights frameworks apply to everyone, they often fall short when it comes to the unique vulnerabilities experienced in older age. Unlike children, women, or persons with disabilities—who benefit from specific international conventions—older persons have no dedicated global treaty.
A potential legally binding instrument would not replace beneficial existing norms; rather complement them—creating clarity, coherence, and accountability. Importantly, it would also reflect changing realities: longevity, aging populations, falling fertility rates, the erosion of traditional care structures, and persistent barriers to economic and social inclusion in later life.
Recent events, especially the Covid-19 pandemic, have exposed how older persons can be left out of critical systems. In many contexts, they were the most affected by health risks and yet had the least access to services, resources, and digital technologies. These were programmatic failures as well as reflections of systemic exclusion.
Ageism – stereotyping, bias and discrimination because of age - remains universal and widespread—often unrecognised and unchecked—with its impact magnified when intersected with other forms of inequality, such as gender or disability. Older women face cumulative disadvantages over their life-course related amongst other matters to absence from the formal workforce, caregiving, financial insecurity, and social isolation. They live on average longer than men, but with worse health outcomes, lower participation in the formal work force, more financial insecurity and increased social isolation and loneliness as compared to men. The WHO Commission on Social Connection reports that one in six people worldwide experiences loneliness, with serious health impacts.
A new legally binding instrument could help address these challenges by affirming rights such as equality before the law and freedom from discrimination, access to health care and to justice, protection from violence, abuse and neglect, the rights to participate in society, housing and adequate living standards, privacy and family life, autonomy and freedom of movement, and the right to dignity in death and end-of-life care. Just as critically, it would establish mechanisms to facilitate measurement, monitoring and enforcement—transforming and accelerating aspiration into action.
As countries grapple with ageing, various models offer insight into what is possible.
In India, for example, Kerala has piloted community-based elder care programmes, Tamil Nadu has expanded social pensions, and the Ayushman Bharat scheme is aiming to increase health care access, including for older adults. These examples illustrate how targeted interventions can reinforce broader commitments to inclusive growth.
Elsewhere, Japan has invested in long-term care insurance and age-friendly infrastructure, while Uruguay has pursued integrated health and social protection strategies for older populations. Rwanda has developed localized support networks for older persons living alone, and Germany has implemented training programs to prepare caregivers for an ageing society.
No single model is universally applicable, but collectively, these approaches point toward common principles: integration, accessibility, dignity, and participation.
Ageing is reshaping labor markets as well. As the ratio of working-age individuals to retirees declines globally, economic growth rates are expected to slow, with declines faster in some countries than in others. The IMF estimates that China for example is expected to witness a particularly sharp decline in GDP growth due to acute demographic challenges; India is projected to experience a milder growth slowdown benefitting from near term youth bulges; yet is likely to still face a sharper deceleration from 2050 on-wards. Mitigation of these trends will require a deliberate and comprehensive ecosystem of policies and practices including those that support healthy aging, reforming social security systems, extending working lives, postponing retirement ages, a culture of lifelong learning, digital skills training, and active measure such as age inclusive work place policies including flexible work arrangement which retain and incentivise both older persons and those not in the formal labour force, particularly women.
Without such measures, societies risk continuing the unacceptable trajectory of ageism and losing the essential economic and social capital needed to bolster growth and ensure safe, healthy communities—where all are valued, their rights secured, their promise and potential fulfilled, and, vitally, where people can care and be cared for with dignity until their last breath
Population ageing may be universal, but its impacts vary by context.
A global instrument covering nearly a quarter of the world’s population offers a vital opportunity for shared standards and cooperative learning, while reinforcing national progress through international norms. For example:
- Data collection on ageing remains limited in many countries. A rights-based framework could promote stronger monitoring.
- Social protection systems, once informed by common principles, can be adapted to diverse settings.
- Accountability mechanisms can help align national commitments with global goals.
Crucially, the process and fact of a legally binding instrument hold the promise of capturing and centering the voices and lived realities of older persons—ensuring they are not only protected but also meaningfully engaged in shaping the systems that affect them.
The demographic shift underway is not confined to any one region. It calls for coordinated action across all levels—local, national, and international. As governments consider their roles, several priorities emerge:
- Support the normative process: Engage constructively in shaping a global legally binding instrument that is inclusive, practical, and grounded in rights.
- Promote integrated national responses: Move beyond fragmented schemes to comprehensive systems encompassing pensions, healthcare, caregiving, infrastructure and intergenerational dialogue and support.
- Challenge narratives of decline: Recognise and value older persons as contributors—whether as workers, caregivers, volunteers, or knowledge-holders—and not merely as dependents.
Ultimately, the wellbeing of older persons is closely tied to broader societal resilience. Supporting ageing with dignity strengthens social cohesion, economic stability, and intergenerational solidarity.
As countries look ahead, global cooperation offers a pathway not only to respond to the challenges of ageing but also to realise its promise and potential—as a natural, valuable, and increasingly pivotal part of the human journey.
This article is authored by Aparna Mehrotra, director, UN System Coordination Division and senior executive advisor on ageing, UN Women.
