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ho
illCare
for
the Elderly?
by
Ronald S. Toth
N ational governments are now faced with an ever-growing elderly population
supported by fewer and fewer younger workers. What is the solution?
I:
E
expectancy in 1900
was 47; today, 74.
Everywhere within the
Western industrialized na–
tions life expectancy has
increased.
tion explosion. The teeming
masses of Calcutta and Cairo.
China, India and black African
nations grapple with swelling pop–
ulations.
But from the Ural Mountains
to the British lsles, the United
States, Canada and Japan, the
birthrate is well below the 2.1
needed to maintain the national
population. West Germany, for
example, has a birthrate of only
1.4. The U.S., 1.8; Britain, 1.9;
Canada, 1.8; and Japan, 1.8.
These figures depict a very serious
unforeseen trend.
The "Other" Population Explosion
As low birthrates continue to
deplete the ranks of the young, and
life expectancies continue to rise,
industrial nations face a serious
population expansion within the
ranks of the elderly. Within Aus-
But with the ever-increasing
life span, a major problem is
developing.
People hear about the popula-
The Elderly in Other Societies
F
or too many elderly
people in Western
industrial cultures, old age
Efé Pygmy e/der, lturi forest
has been turned into a
heavy burden, a distressing
ordeal.
By contras!, among
some peoples and cultures,
especially !hose in the
Third World, the elderly
have traditionally occupied
~
a position of respect, as
~
reflected in the following
~
quotes. (Even in many of
~
these areas, however, the
...... 1
situation is being, or may
~
already have been, altered
~
due largely to political
~
changes and the influence
of Western culture.)
Thaitand:
" The Phooyai
of Thailand are the revered
elders, to whom all
importan! decisions mus! be
referred. They take you
each step of the way
through lite. and may even
control the purse strings"
(World Health,
February/ March 1982)
Southeast Asia:
" In
countries of WHO's
South-East Asia Region, the
elderly have traditionally
enjoyed a privileged
place.... They have been
revered and their
advice .. . sought on
matters ranging from the
sowing of !he next crop, a
marriage in the family or the
settling of a village dispute.
to prescribing a remedy for
a stomach ache" (
World
Visiting the Forbidden City in China