Demography and Epidemiology of Old Age

Abstract

Few well-informed adults, let alone those working in health or social care services, can be unaware that one of the most striking and well-documented demographic trends of this century has been the increase, in both relative and absolute numbers, of elderly people in the population. Though most evident in the developed industrialised countries, this is a world-wide phenomenon with the numbers of old people in developing countries also increasing. Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria, for example, will experience a more than tenfold increase in the number of people aged 60 and over between the years 1950 and 2025.