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Ghana ranked best in Africa in providing better conditions for older persons

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ghana has been ranked the best country in Africa for providing better conditions for older persons, according to the Global AgeWatch Index for 2015 released here Wednesday.

The Index ranks Ghana at the 81st position while, globally, Switzerland is adjudged to be the best place for older people to live, with Norway following closely.

Apart from Japan, which occupies the eighth position, all the top 10 countries are in Western Europe and North America, with Afghanistan at the bottom of the ranking.

African countries that were ranked include Morocco (84), Nigeria (86), Uganda (88) and Rwanda (89). The rest were Zambia (90), Tanzania (91), Mozambique (94) and Malawi (95).

The Global AgeWatch Index 2015 launched by HelpAge International ranked 96 countries in the world according to their social and economic wellbeing of older people.

The Index, which represents 91 per cent of people aged 60 years and over numbering 901 million, measures the wellbeing of older people in four key areas including income security, health, personal capability and an enabling environment.

Toby Porter, Chief Executive for HelpAge International, observed that the big story this year in the Index was that millions of older people were invisible, living their lives in countries where information on the quality of older age was missing from international data sets.

"Poverty rates in old age are missing from international data sets in at least 93 countries. It's particularly shocking in Africa where there was only enough data available to include 11 out of 54 countries. Consequently, we know more about the needs of older people in Norway and Luxembourg, two of the richest countries in the world, than we do about those in Liberia and Burundi, two of the poorest," Porter stated.

Governments around the world will be signing up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September this year committing to universal goals and targets until 2030.

Porter advised that improved national, regional and global data, broken down by age and gender, would help to fully understand how men and women experience ageing around the world.

Ghana recently endorsed the United Nations (UN) efforts at developing appropriate legal framework and tools to effectively address gaps and challenges faced by older persons.

The country has launched the 'Eban', an elderly welfare card program, an initiative to provide priority access to particularly social services in health and transportation.

Africa's population is expected to rise drastically from about 1.1 billion in 2013 to at least 2.4 billion in 2030, according to the UN Department for Economic and social Affairs (UNDESA).

Currently, it says Africa has approximately 60 million people aged 60 years and above and this is expected to rise to 103 million older women and men by 2030. Enditem