| dc.description.abstract | Over the past three decades, the number of older people (60 years of age and over) in the European Community has risen from 46.5 to 68.6 million, an increase of almost 50%. All the signs are that this trend will continue in the future, and that in 2020 there will be approximately twice as many older people in the Community as there were in 1960. Depending on the life expectancy assumptions on which the projections are based, it is likely that between 89 and 100 million older people will be living in the present territory of the Community in 2020, 17 to 22 million of them aged 80 or over. In view of the demands which this structural change will make on our society, in particular as regards the financing of pensions and health care, the Community has set up its first three-year programme for older people. The aim of the programme is to increase awareness of the situation and problems of older people and to foster a feeling of solidarity between generations. The highlight of this programme is expected to be the "European Year" 1993 of older people and solidarity between generations. |
