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Greece as one of the worst countries for elderly?

Greece is a champion in the aging of its population, with a rate higher than that of the EU. But at the same time, the living conditions of the elderly are among the worst in the world, worse than Venezuela and South Africa.

But when does youth end and when does old age begin? No matter how subjective the answers are, the current trends in public health want the elderly active, "on their feet", to maintain their autonomy but also their sociability and to participate in society, having ensured a quality of life without significant "discounts"

The president of the Hellenic Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Professor Ioannis G. Karaitianos * explained speaking to in.gr, that aging is a normal evolutionary process, universal, inherent, progressive and irreversible. However, giving the stigma of modern trends, he referred us to the statement of the age-old American comedian George Burns ( Protected content ) that "You can not avoid growing up, but you do not have to grow old." Thousands of years earlier, in the work "The Gift of Maturity", the Roman philosopher and politician Marcus Tyllius Cicero Protected content BC) stated with the title: "The Third Age can be a wonderful period of life. "Old age can be fun, as long as we have developed the right inner skills… Grow your own garden."

In the first places
According to Mr. Karaitianos, Greece ranks first among the member states of the European Union in an aging population (growth rate of 21.4% compared to the EU average of 17.2%). People over the age of 65 represent today in our country a percentage of over 21.3% of the population and according to forecasts this percentage will reach 30% of the population in Protected content about 1/3 of the population in Protected content ! This demographic aging, which is common in all western countries and greatly affects the viability of insurance systems, also causes serious medical, social, family, and economic problems that are expected to reach explosive proportions in the coming decades.

By "survival expectancy" we mean how long a human body is expected to live under normal conditions and which is affected by many factors. According to a report of the United Nations Development Program in Protected content , the life expectancy in our country is 84.7 years for women and 79.8 years for men, while the total life expectancy is 82, 2 years.

From 36 to 82 years
Increasing life expectancy is an important achievement of Medicine by improving the level of health and treatment of chronic diseases, reducing infant mortality as well as deaths from communicable diseases. It is enough to consider that from Protected content today it has increased by about 24 years, while in the 19th century the average life expectancy of the Greeks was only 36 years! At the same time, however, this achievement is a great challenge in many areas such as the economy and the health services provided and therefore the quality of life of the elderly themselves. However, having managed to live more years does not mean that we live them with quality.

But we do not live better
Unfortunately, data from the annual report of the international organization Help Age International of Protected content the quality of life of the elderly characterizes Greece as one of the worst countries to live citizens over 60 years and ranks our country in 79th place among 96 countries, in terms of socio-economic prosperity, below Venezuela and South Africa!

A good quality of life depends on many factors such as physical health, mental and emotional health, eating habits and lifestyle (abuse, smoking, etc.), comorbidities, financial status, level of education and active and productive participation in society.

How is youth defined?
According to a survey by the British Ministry of Labor and Pensions in Protected content , young people under 25 believe that old age begins at 54 years and that youth ends at 32 years. The same research showed that the public regardless of age believes that the third age begins at 59 years. The "World Convention on Aging" in Protected content Vienna, following a decision of the UN General Assembly, adopted the age of 60 and over, as a limit for the registration of persons belonging to the elderly and is then about when chronic diseases appear. For several years now, however, the age of 65 has been internationally institutionalized, which is identical to the average retirement age.

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