Tehran – The development of a comprehensive care plan to support the elderly is on the highest agenda of the National Council for the Elderly.
Regarding the current situation in the country and its impact on older adults, the National Council aims to develop plans to ensure their security and improve the quality of life for them.
She added that the council expects all organisations across the country to actively participate in implementing the plan.
The plan also focuses on promoting older cities and empowering older women living alone, Lezazadeh said.
Officials continue, saying that the two “cultural” and “health and treatment” workshops will work closely with medical centers and local governments to provide technical education training to care providers, seniors, families and centre staff.
Transition to an aging country: “Inevitable”
Given the fact that Iran’s birth rate is stable at around 1.6 children per woman, a transition from young to middle-aged is inevitable, as it is much lower than the rate required to replace this aging population.
According to the first five-year National Development Plan (1989-1993), the policy focused on reducing the total fertility rate from 6.4 children in 1365 (1986) to four children in 1390 (2011), reducing the population growth rate over the same period from 3.2 to 2.3%, and the IRNA cited a national survey.
However, the measures at the time have led to widespread changes and changes in population indicators, as well as significant declines in population growth and fertility rates well beyond the set targets of the country’s first development plan, officials noted.
The results of the 2011 and 2016 census showed that the country’s demographic change trends had a major deviation from the development plan goals for the first five years, officials noted.
It was announced that population growth in 2011 and 2016 was 1.29 and 1.24, respectively. This figure reached 0.7 in past Iranian years (March 2023 – March 2024).
According to the latest census, the number of senior citizens in the country has increased by 3.62%, five times faster than the total population growth rate, or 1.24%.
In Iran 1385 (2006-2007), there were 5,121,043 men and women over the age of 60. In 2015, 10% of the country’s population was over 60 years old.
Over the next 30 years, the population over the age of 60 is projected to own 32% of the total population. In other words, older people will make up a third of Iran’s population by 2050, officials noted.
Currently, men and women over 60 years old make up about 11.5% of Iran’s population.
For the time being, older women account for 52.3% of the total population, surpassing men (47.7%), quoted Saber Jabbari as saying.
In May, the welfare organization announced it was planning to improve the quality of life by implementing a 40-day training program for seniors.
The program includes 240 different educational subjects, including health, life skills, arts, communication skills, digital and entrepreneurship, music, sports, gaming and other leisure activities.
“It will be implemented as a Tehran pilot program. Each individual will register to participate in the program for 40 days within three months,” he said.
“Participants are divided into two groups and participate in sessions either odd or daily, and the educational program is offered in two different parts each day. The first 15 minutes are dedicated to physical training, the next 45 minutes are focused on professional training, and the 90 minutes are assigned to recreational programs.
Some short-term education programs can be accessed through certain websites introduced by the centre,” Delbari added.
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