In 1950 there were 200 million people over 60 years old - by 2000 that number had tripled to nearly 600 million and by 2025 it is estimated that there will be over 1 billion older persons.
1999 was celebrated as the International Year for Older Persons to promote the theme of working to create "a society for all ages." In 2002 the United Nations adopted an International Plan of Action on Aging in which all governments pledged to work for the security of older persons, as well as to empower them so that they can "participate fully in the economic, political and social lives of their societies."
August 21, Senior Citizens Day, is an opportunity to celebrate the wisdom and achievements senior citizens have made, as well as to advocate for the rights of older people throughout the world.
The International Day for Older Persons is celebrated
on October 1 throughout the world, and is an important
time to remind governments about their pledges to work
towards the Millennium Development Goals of helping,
among other things, to end hunger and poverty for older
persons and people of all ages.
| "A longer life provides humans with an opportunity to examine their lives in retrospect, to correct some of their mistakes, to get closer to the truth and to achieve a different understanding of the sense and value of their actions. This may well be the more important contribution of older people to the human community. Especially at this time, after the unprecedented changes that have affected humankind in their lifetime, the reinterpretation of life-stories by the aged should help us all to achieve the urgently needed reorientation of history." -- United Nations - International Plan of Action on Aging |
International
Day of Older Persons
Dag
Hammarskjold Links for International Day of Older Persons
UN
Program on Ageing
World
Health Organization - Ageing
UN
Days & Years Meditation Initiative
AARP
Canadian Centre for Activity & Ageing
Global
Action on Aging
