TEHRAN – A national project to create an elderly-friendly environment has been launched in nine provinces of the country.
An age-friendly community is one where age is no barrier to living a healthy life, where the environment, activities, and services support seniors and give them the opportunity to enjoy life and feel healthy.
Tehran, Gilan, Isfahan, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Hamedan and Bushehr are the pilot provinces of the project, IRNA quoted Mojgan Rezazadeh, secretary general of the National Council for the Elderly, as saying.
Age-Friendly Cities is an international project implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Global Fund, and Age-Friendly Cities Secretariat have currently been established in the above states.
There are eight key areas of an age-friendly environment, including transportation, social participation, civic engagement, employment, respect and social inclusion, housing, communication, and information.
In October 2024, a national instrument to create an elderly-friendly environment across the country came into force, Rezazadeh said.
“The world’s population is aging, especially in developing countries, and Iran is no exception.The proportion of the country’s elderly population has increased from 5 percent in 1976 to about 10.5 percent, or about 9 million people. ”, Rezazadeh was quoted as saying by IRNA.
This document is committed to improving the physical and social environment to make it a better place for older people.
It consists of three parts: principles of indicators and standards for age-friendly city strategic planning, holding a workshop to develop age-friendly city strategy documents, and age-friendly city planning indicators.
In addition to the eight main areas, travel and tours for the elderly will also be added to the plan.
Rezazadeh said each state should develop a strategic state document based on its own circumstances and implement the program with the cooperation of member institutions and the strong participation of local governments and city governments. .
He further said that the necessary training will be implemented and monitored in stages with local experts and international consultants.
Provinces with large numbers of elderly people, namely Gilan, Mazandaran, Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd and Kerman, are given top priority for the plan.
Iran’s transition to an aging nation is ‘inevitable’
Given the fact that Iran’s birth rate remains stable at around 1.6 children per woman, much lower than the birth rate needed to compensate for its aging population, the transition of society from young to middle-aged has become unavoidable.
According to the First Five Year National Development Plan (1989-1993), the policy reduced Iran’s total fertility rate from 6.4 children in 1365 (1986) to 4 children in 1390 (2011); The focus was on reducing the population growth rate. In the same period, it rose from 3.2 to 2.3 percent, IRNA quoted Mohammad Javad Mahmoudi, an official at the National Population Institute. As they say, do your research.
However, the measures taken at that time led to significant transformations and changes in population indicators, resulting in population growth and a marked decline in birth rates far exceeding the goals set in the country’s first development plan, it said. officials pointed out.
Officials noted that the 2011 and 2016 census results showed that the country’s demographic trends have deviated significantly from the goals of the first five-year development plan.
The population growth rates for 2011 and 2016 were announced to be 1.29 and 1.24, respectively. This figure reached 0.7 in the past year (March 2023-March 2024) in Iran.
According to the latest census, the number of elderly people in the country is growing by 3.62 percent, which is five times faster than the total population growth rate of 1.24 percent.
In 1385 (2006-2007) in Iran, there were 5,121,043 men and women aged 60 and above. In 2015, 10 percent of the country’s population was over 60 years old, ISNA quoted Mohammad Javad Mahmoudi, an official at the National Population Research Institute. .
Over the next 30 years, people over the age of 60 are expected to account for 32% of the total population, meaning that by 2050, older people will account for one-third of Iran’s population, the official said.
Currently, men and women over the age of 60 make up about 11.5 percent of Iran’s population, a Health Ministry official said.
For the time being, elderly women account for 52.3 percent of the total population, outnumbering men (47.7 percent), ISNA quoted Saber Jabari as saying.
MT/MG