Aging population 'an economic bonus'

An aging population is an economic bonus, not a drain on resources, according to a campaign.

Increased life spans represent one of humanity's greatest achievements, thanks to centuries of progress, the organisers said.

Scientists at Newcastle University said society must rethink its perception of an aging population and drew up a charter to promote the change.

Tom Kirkwood, director of the university's Institute for Ageing and Health, said: "Too often, public and political debate has focused on population ageing as a negative issue, a 'burden' to be managed.

"The campaign we are launching today seeks to change this, recognising the tremendously positive contributions that an aging population has on society, and encouraging a profound change in attitudes to ageing, informed by facts and not by outdated misconceptions."

The leaders of the three main political parties will be asked to sign the Newcastle Charter for Changing Age.

One key issue of the charter focuses on the economic benefit of an older population, stating: "Older people are contributors and consumers of products and services."

Backers include Dame Joan Bakewell, the government's voice for older people, writer and broadcaster Dr Miriam Stoppard and charities Age Concern and Help the Aged.

Dr Stoppard said: "I welcome the opportunity to support a campaign that positively addresses the perceptions of older age. "This is an issue that concerns us all, not just those over 60. We all need to ask how we will provide for ourselves in the future and how much help can we expect.

"We must address these challenges now to ensure a future where people can look forward to enjoying their old age in comfort."

Prof. Kirkwood said life expectancy in Britain was increasing by two or more years every decade.

"The key issue is how best we make the most of our lengthening lives by improving health and wellbeing," he said.

It says:

• Increased life spans represent one of humanity's greatest achievements. For the great majority of the population, health and wellbeing have improved. Illness and death have been postponed through centuries of scientific research, ingenuity and perseverance.

• Increasing life expectancy is an economic good. Longevity has made, and continues to make, an enormously positive contribution to our economy. Older people are contributors and consumers of products and services, adding substantially to economic growth.

• Aging concerns us all. Those who are young today will in time be old. Those who are old were once young.

• Each individual has an equal place in our society regardless of age. The blind eye that is so often turned to the scourge of agism, in its widespread and corrosive forms, can no longer be accepted. Agism should be outlawed to the same extent as racism, sexism and religious discrimination.

• Much better information about older people is needed. We need to know about the contributions, capabilities, needs and aspirations of older people in their enormous diversity. Older people should neither be marginalised nor treated as a separate category ("the elderly") within society.

• Older people are an under-acknowledged asset. The mental capital and skills of older people should no longer go to waste. Arbitrary ages of compulsory retirement or of exclusion from full participation in any social activity, including education, should in future be abolished.