People over the age of 60 currently make up 9.5% (7.6 million) of Iran’s population of 80 million. With the aim to improve quality of life of the elderly, a national document has been developed by the Secretariat of National Council of the Elderly (SNCE).
“The document will be sent to the Management and Planning Organization for approval in the near future and then come to the government for implementation,” says the SNCE head, Mohsen Salmannejad, ISNA reported.
With the right policies and services in place, population ageing can be viewed as an advantage for both individuals and the society, he noted.
The national document includes plans to improve different aspects of elderly life such as leisure time, income security and economic empowerment. “If families are taking care of their senior members, then subsidies should be paid to such families,” he said.
Currently, between 600,000 and 700,000 elderly are covered by the State Welfare Organization and 100,000 are under care in 24-hour centers and daycare homes through financial subsidies.
For residents of day centers 3-3.5 million rials ($75-$90) each is paid per month and those in 24-hour nursing homes get six million rials ($150) for their upkeep.
Active Ageing Indexes
Active ageing is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.
Healthy ageing is more than just the absence of disease. “For older people, the maintenance of functional ability is of highest importance. The greatest costs to society are not the expenditure made to foster this functional ability, but the benefits that might be missed if we fail to make appropriate investments,” Salmannejad said.
According to the World Health Organization, the recommended societal approach to population ageing, which includes the goal of building an age-friendly world, requires a transformation of care systems away from disease-based curative models and towards the provision of integrated care that is centered on the needs of older people.
“The international institute ‘HelpAge’ (www.helpage.org) which evaluates active ageing indexes in different countries under supervision of the WHO, holds a scientific seminar on active ageing every two years, and for the first time Iran will be hosting the seminar in 2018,” IRNA quoted Salmannejad as saying.
According to the HelpAge report, 8.2% of the country’s population was over the age of 60 in 2015.
The figure will increase to 14.4% in 2030 when the population will reach 88.5 million and 31.2% in 2050 when the population is forecast at 92 million, as per UN estimates.
At present, the ‘life expectancy at 60’ (the average number of years a person aged 60 can expect to live) is 20 years in Iran while the ‘healthy life expectancy at 60’ (the average number of years a person aged 60 can expect to live in good health) is only 15.3 years, the report said.
Additionally, 29.8% of people aged 55-64 are employed. The ‘Employment of Older People’ measures older people’s access to the labor market and their ability to supplement pension with wages, and their access to work-related networks. It indicates the economic empowerment of older people.
The report also says that only 35.5% of the population over the age of 60 has secondary or higher education in Iran.
According to HelpAge, 55% of people over the age of 50 in Iran have relatives or friends they can count on when in need (social connection rate is 55%).
Also, 65% of people over 50 feel safe walking alone at night in the city or in areas where they live (physical safety for old people is 65%).
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