A demographic revolution is taking place, as the world’s population grows older at an accelerating pace. In the last 50 years, global life expectancy of women has increased from 48 to 67 years and of men from 45 to 63 years. Globally, by the year 2050, the number of people aged 60 and over will rise from about 600 million to 2 billion. For the first time in history, in less than fifty years from now, there will be more people in the world over age 60 than under age 15. In many countries, while people are living longer, there has not been a corresponding increase in the length of working lives. In fact, the reverse has happened in many industrialized countries, where there has been a substantial drop in the average retirement ages. As a consequence, these countries are facing serious concerns about the viability of social security systems, as the number of people seeking benefits increases and the number of contributors declines.
The ILO sees the promotion of decent work for all as central in addressing the challenges posed by this demographic revolution. Education and skills training are central to decent work. In order to enable older people to remain active longer if they wish, societies need to introduce measures to encourage older workers to update their skills in a lifelong learning framework, strengthening the already observed trend for older people with higher education to remain longer in employment, and counterbalancing the current trend in which participation in training declines with age. Other necessary action includes measures to improve conditions of work, combat age discrimination and encourage a change of attitudes. Particular attention is needed to the problems faced by older women, and older disabled persons, whether they acquired their disability early in life or at a later age.
