After numerous international years and a few decades on a variety of subjects, many people are rightly asking “why another UN Year?” Just a few of the demographic and social facts that the world is facing, but few have recognized, are that:

• 20 years have been added to the average lifespan in the second half of the 20th century;
  
  
• the traditional pyramid-shaped age structure of many youth and few elders is becoming an inverse family pyramid of maybe one child, two parents and four grandparents;
  
  
• the world is entering a period where the proportion of older persons in the population will shift from 1 in 10 to 1 in three;
  
  
• the speed of ageing in developing countries is more rapid than in developed ones, and already the majority of older persons live in developing countries;
  
  
• The older population itself is ageing. The age 80 and above category will rise to 25% of the population over age 60 by the year 2050.
  

   In 1995, in the first Report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the subject of the International Year, four core concepts were established to guide the debate:

• The situation of older persons addresses the traditional issues associated with older persons - such as, health, housing, social welfare and employment.  Two issues which have emerged as of current policy concern to governments are active ageing and caregiving.
  
  
• Life-long individual development addresses the issues which arise in a world where we are all living much longer, but with policies and ideologies from an era much different. Issues such as lifelong education, healthy ageing/ lifestyles, skills upgrading, support for transition into later stages of life need to be considered.
  
  
• Multi-generational relationships are deeply affected by the demographic, socio-economic and cultural changes affecting all societies. The two needs of income security and care tend to be at the forefront of this discussion - which has sometimes become combative in nature. The Year seeks to generate debate on equitable societal solutions to these changes.
  
  
• Development and the ageing of populations looks at the need to reconcile population ageing and continued socio-economic development. This requires adjustments in the sectors of employment, income security, social welfare, health care, education, as well as taking changing investment, consumption and savings patterns into account.
  
  

   “Towards a society for all ages” was selected as the theme for the Year. The concept evolved from “A society for all”, the theme of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995. The interpretation of the theme can encompass many possibilities, as the Secretariat is finding out from Member States reports on their activities for the Year. For instance, the United States of America is arranging town meetings on the concept of “Transportation for an ageing society” and Finland is promoting “Municipalities for people of all ages”. At the basic level, it simply refers to equal treatment of people of all ages.

   Elucidating the steps which might be involved in attaining a society for all ages is explored further in the 1998 Report of the Secretary-General to the fifty-third session of the General Assembly (A/53/294).

    Although different approaches can be taken, the Report adapts the concepts of (a) the individual lifecourse, and (b) the social milieu of family, neighbourhood and communities of interest, and the macro-social environment, as routes to exploring the society for all ages. Under the heading of “the individual lifecourse” (a) individual investment in the phases of life is discussed. This approach views individual phases of life as a whole, by recognizing how each phase impacts on that which follows. Issues under the phases of late life, midlife, adult years, youth, and childhood, are raised for further discussion on how they can facilitate a lifecourse perspective of individual development. Under the heading of “social milieu” (b) the role of fostering enabling environments in supporting life-long individual development is raised for debate.  

   This exploration of the society for all ages will take a concrete policy discussion angle in the interregional expert group meeting on the same subject, which will take place in May 1999 in Bangkok. At this meeting, experts will discuss and make recommendations to Member States on specific policy directions which could be to move toward the society for all ages. 

   Beyond the work of promoting the celebration of the International Year of Older Persons, the Programme on Ageing has a long-term vision. The Year is being viewed as a springboard for launching long-term strategies on ageing in the next century at both the international and national levels, rather than as a purely celebratory event with no planned outcome or vision of a way forward.

   This idea of moving forward was made more concrete during the course of 1997, and initially articulated in the Report of the Secretary-General: Operational framework for the International Year of Older Persons (A/52/328).

   In the aforementioned report, highlights of the preparations for 1999 mention two key events for future action. Four plenary meetings of the General Assembly will take place in 1999 devoted to the follow-up to the Year, at an appropriate global policy-making level (General Assembly resolution 52/80). Secondly, a suggestion is made to evaluate past strategies as a basis for a new strategy on ageing to the year 2010 or 2020.

   One of the key goals in the preparation for 1999 is to encourage Member States to look ahead and make long-term plans. Some have already started this process, most notably: Australia - a National Strategy for an Ageing Australia; Finland, with the National Ageing Policy to 2001; India, with the preparation of a National Policy for Older Persons during 1998; Malta with the preparation of an Aged Care Act in 1999 and a Malta Declaration for Aged Care. Similar plans are also underway in South Africa, Spain, and Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is holding a series of meetings to formulate a regional plan of action on ageing.

    The United Nations Secretariat for the International Year of Older Persons sees its major task in promoting the substantive activities for the Year and beyond. At the end of the XVIth Conference of the International Association of Gerontology (IAG), held in Adelaide in August 1997, participants adopted the Adelaide Declaration, which called upon the IAG and the UN Programme on Ageing, to cooperate in drafting a research agenda for the next century. Preparations are currently underway for the first stage in the formulation of the research agenda with an Expert Group Meeting in January 1999, supported by the Novartis Foundation for Gerontological Research. This initial meeting will bring together some of the key experts in their fields.

    The project is seen as a major initiative in the field of ageing, which is intended to influence the development of national policy and research on ageing in the next decade, and will give special recognition to challenges of population and individual ageing in developing countries.

    The most up-to-date information on the International Year of Older Persons can be accessed at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/iyop.htm.


Rosemary Lane is Social Affairs Officer, Programme on Ageing, UN Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Address: Room DC2-1365
2 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA. 
Fax: 1-212-963-3062.