Barbados is fast moving from being an ageing society to becoming an aged society and even super-aged society, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said.
His comments were based on preliminary results from the latest census showing that two in every five Barbadians are over the age of 50.
“One in every five Barbadians will be over 65, and one in every four Barbadians over 60 years old. This is no longer an ageing society. This is an aged society and we’re very close to being a super-aged society. It means the things that we would have done or thought to do must now change because we cannot continue to treat all the persons as if they are a small minority of persons in this society who are a burden to the taxpayers,” Humphrey said at the reopening of the Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village, Christ Church, which was was renovated at a cost of $2.5 million.
He called for a change in mindset, stressing that there were resources among the older population that needed to be tapped into and utilised.
“How do we treat the ambitions of older people . . . . How do we help older persons to gather to be productive, but how do we also help them to give back? . . . . It cannot be a conversation about the older persons as a burden. The truth is that most persons in Barbados now, as I said before, are heading towards 50. Forty per cent of Barbadians are 50 years or older,” the minister said.
Humphrey added: “…. If we are talking about serious development in Barbados, a country that is now as aged as we are . . . I feel very strongly that we have to find opportunities for older people to continue to work if they want to, because persons say that the government has extended the time that persons may be able to work, but many people reach that age and want to work.”
The renovations at Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village included work on 14 buildings, installation of lighting, upgrading of the plumbing throughout the compound, and installation of water tanks and a backup generator.
(RG)
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