Training programme on population ageing

An international training programme in demographic aspects of population ageing and its implications for socio-economic development, policies and plans will be held at the Imperial Hotel, Sliema, beween tomorrow and December 10.

The first quarter of the 21st century has often been called the Age of Ageing. The world’s elderly population is increasing by one million people every month.

In 1985, there were 427 million people aged 60 and over, constituting 8.8 per cent of the world’s total population.

It is projected that by 2025, 14.3 per cent of the world’s population will be aged 60 and above. This number is expected to increase to two billion by 2050.

The world is experiencing a revolution in longevity whereby the average life expectancy at birth since 1950 has increased by 20 years and is projected to increase by another 10 years by mid-century.

Since 1985, the majority of the world’s older people are to be found in developing countries. Here, the increase will be greatest and most rapid. In fact, the older population is expected to increase fourfold by 2050.

Population ageing poses unique challenges to every society because, unlike other population growth variables, such as fertility and mortality rates which, to a considerable extent, can be influenced by government policies, the process of population ageing is irreversible.

The attention of every government should not be on whether it can change the basic process of ageing, but rather to the very issues that arise from this process. Moreover, since this phenomenon is without any precedent in the history of mankind, to meet these new challenges new policies are required.

In the western world, our ageing populations are becoming victims of professional models of care. Older people are often viewed as making excessive demands on government expenditure. On their part, governments are encountering increasing difficulties in paying for their care. The objective of this programme is to provide a broad and up-to-date understanding of these issues.

The programme will be opened by Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care Mario Galea in the presence of Joseph Troisi, director of the International Institute on Ageing United Nations.

The training programme, designed by an international expert group, is geared towards achieving a working knowledge of demographic concepts and techniques.

Participants are helped at acquiring the methodological approaches, tools and techniques in demography adopted in assessing the conditions of older people at global, regional and country level. In so doing, they are more able to convey information effectively to policy-makers.

This intensive two-week programme consists of lectures, site-visits to Villa Messina and Mtarfa Home for the Elderly and hands-on computer work at the University of Malta.

Apart from local experts, lecturing on the programme are two international tutors, Tomas Kucera, assistant professor of demography at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, and Prof. Ik Ki Kim, from Dongguk University in Seoul.

Participants taking part hail from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, India, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Syria, Thailand, Uganda and Zambia.