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Negative attitudes toward the elderly are detrimental to their health
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Every year on October 1st, the World Day of Older Persons is celebrated, and WHO calls to say no to age discrimination. According to WHO, in almost every country there is infringement of rights or poor treatment of older people, which cannot but affect their health, both mental and physical.
The World Health Organization conducted a survey and found that more than half of the respondents believe that the elderly are not treated with due respect. A total of 83 thousand people of different age groups and from different countries took part in the survey. According to the results, the least respect for elderly citizens is shown in countries with a high standard of living. According to John Beard, head of the WHO Department of Aging, most people have a subconscious stereotypical opinion about the elderly, but any norms can and should be changed, a striking example of this can be sexism or racism.
Negative attitudes towards older people cause their mental and physical health to deteriorate. Often, older people feel that they are a burden to their loved ones, their self-esteem decreases, which threatens the development of depressive disorders and social isolation. According to one of the latest studies in this area, older people who perceive their own aging negatively adapt to life worse after losing their ability to work, and on average their life expectancy is 7.5 years shorter than those who have a positive attitude towards their own age.
In about 10 years, the number of elderly people in the world will double, and in 30 years there will be 2 billion elderly people living on the planet.
According to WHO coordinator for ageing, Alana Ofiser, society will undoubtedly benefit from an increase in the number of older people, but before that happens, it is necessary to eliminate the prejudices that are firmly entrenched in the perception of modern society.
According to Ofiser, negative attitudes towards older people can manifest themselves in different ways – cessation of work and retirement after reaching the established age, attitudes towards them as weaker, dependent, incapable of using modern devices, communications, etc.
According to some experts, the definition of retirement age is based on the equation of all elderly people, while the capabilities of individuals who have reached the age established by law remain unaccounted for. Such ideas are deeply rooted in our subconscious and are often taken into account in various data collections, the distribution of health care resources, etc.
This year, the WHO Director-General was called upon to develop a plan to combat negative attitudes towards older people, as well as to implement an action plan on ageing and health. This year's Day of Older Persons is intended to draw attention to this issue, and the WHO aims to encourage everyone to think about the consequences of poor attitudes towards older people.
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