This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Development Report.
The number of people over age sixty is expected to increase twotimes during the next fifty years. A new United Nations populationstudy says the percentage of older people in the world is risingquickly.
Today, one of every ten people isover age sixty. By the middle of the next century, one in fivepeople in the world will be sixty years old or older. That will bealmost two-thousand-million people. This means there will be moreolder people in the world than children. Experts say many developingcountries do not have the social services to help increasing numbersof older people.
Joseph Chamie (SHAM-ee) heads the U-N office on population. Hesays that the average length of time a person is expected to liveincreased by about twenty years during the last half of thetwentieth century.
The current life expectancy is sixty-six years. The oldest of theold people are also living longer. Mister Chamie says that twelvepercent of older people are eighty years old or older.
Mister Chamie says the world’s population is getting olderbecause death rates and birth rates have decreased. He says thereduction in these rates has been a great success. The U-N studyalso found that women still live longer than men in all but twocountries – Pakistan and Bangladesh. For every one-hundred women inthe world age sixty or over, there are only eighty-one men.
The results of the study were discussed at the U-N Second WorldAssembly on Aging in Madrid, Spain, earlier this month. During themeeting, delegates from one-hundred-sixty countries agreed on a planto improve the lives of old people. The measure deals with suchissues as education, work, retirement guarantees, housing, healthcare and the rights of older women.
U-N officials believe the aging ofthe world’s population will require a change in development aid.They say future aid should meet the needs of older people. Inaddition, officials say that older people in developing countriesusually do not enjoy retirement. Instead, they often face poorliving conditions and poor health. The officials say a system otherthan the family should be established in developing counties to carefor older people.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.