WHO and UN partners have launched the first UN Decade of Healthy Ageing progress report, which charts efforts to improve the lives of older people since 2020, capturing the impact of major challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which over 80% of deaths were among over 60-year-olds. The report also highlights activities in support of healthy ageing in nearly 50 countries.
The report features results from a survey of 136 countries, conducted between late 2022 and early 2023, and notes the areas of greatest progress, by comparing with a previous survey from 2020. This comparison showed an over 20% increase in the number of countries reporting: legislation against ageism, legislation to support older people’s access to assistive products; national policies on comprehensive assessments of health and social care needs of ageing populations; and national programmes for age-friendly cities and communities.
Despite this progress, further efforts are needed as the Decade – which runs from 2021 to 2030 – continues. The report highlights that less than a third of countries reported having adequate resources to deliver on the UN Decade’s four areas of action:
- changing how people think, feel and act about age and ageing;
- ensuring communities foster the abilities of older people;
- delivering person-centred, integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people; and
- providing access to long-term care for older people in need.
One area where there needs to be more progress is having a national multistakeholder forum or committee on ageing and health, which saw only a 7% increase from 67% to 74%. The least progress was seen in the number of countries having a national focal point on ageing.
Concerningly, the proportion of countries with policies, legislation, programmes and services to support healthy ageing is lower in low- and middle-income countries, yet that is where 80% of older people globally will live by 2050. Challenges also remain in ensuring older people are at the centre of the action for Decade; among countries with a forum on healthy ageing, one in three do not include older people.
At the launch of the report, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, stated that “we need more political commitment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries; we need more investment to support healthy ageing; we need more, better trained and supported health and care workers, and we need more meaningful engagement of older people in decisions that matter to them”.
Looking ahead, WHO will continue to work with partners to build national capacities in data collection and analysis, monitoring and evaluation, training health and care workers to provide integrated and long-term care, building age-friendly cities and communities and combatting ageism. The next progress report will be issued in 2026 with a final impact report released in 2029.
WHO serves as secretariat for the Decade and launched the report together with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN-HABITAT, UNFPA, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UN Women. Coinciding with the last ten years of the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Decade is a global collaboration that brings together governments, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, media, the private sector and older people themselves.
