By the Gazette Editorial Board Marking International Day for Older Persons, celebrated by the world at the start of October, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) issued a report revealing that the number of elderly people in Egypt now stood at around 6 million, forming around 6.7 per cent of the total population. This percentage is expected to rise to 11.5 per cent in 2031, according to CAPMAS. This percentage is still small compared to other nations. In Japan, for instance, the percentage of elderly people exceeds a third of the total population. This shouldn't mean, however, that this category in Egyptian society, or their experience in the different aspects of life, should be ignored. The problem of the high unemployment rate among the young people has obliged the government to stick to the pension age of 60 for most categories of society. There are even calls for encouraging early pension for government employees in some places that suffer disguised unemployment. Relatively small as the number of elderly people are in our society, however, their need for integration remains. While drawing up a national plan for eliminating illiteracy in the country, why, for example, doesn't the government benefit from the long experience of elderly teachers and employ them in the classes it creates for educating illiterate people? Such a project would help boost the income of those senior teachers and at the same time help society benefit from their long experience in teaching. Older people could contribute in many other spheres of work to ensure sustainable development and enable society to benefit from their experience without affecting young people's right to employment. The government should also pay proper attention to the particular needs and challenges facing many older people. With economic hardship affecting society today, the government should offer more financial assistance to people on pension to enable them to lead a dignified life. Some of them, after all, continue to be the breadwinners of their families, according to CAPMAS statistics. The report showed that around 4.5 million families are being supported by an elderly person. That equals around 19.4 per cent of Egyptian families. Some of those older people, moreover, are working in farming and fishing, constituting 54 per cent of the total 1.2 million working elders. Another 15.4 per cent of the elderly work in trade and around 5.5 per cent in transport and storage. Apart from seeing to their financial needs, the government should also work on ensuring the constitutional rights of older citizens, providing them with good health and social care whether they are living with their families or have been forced to live in special care homes for the elderly.
