The official start of old age must be moved to 75 – breaking latest news

There is a silent epidemic sweeping through advanced societies. The cause is not a virus, and instead the result of social transformations. It is about theepidemic of loneliness that the magazine Economist recently defined leprosy of the twenty-first century.

The size of the problem

Studies conducted in various parts of the world, but above all in the USA and the United Kingdom, have shown that up to 50 percent of the population may suffer from loneliness says Diego de Leo, psychiatrist, president of the fifth AIP National Day against the loneliness of the elderly, held in Padua at the Altinate San Gaetano Cultural Center. They are alone children and teenagers, alone are also young mothers, divorced people, the elderly, their caregivers and mourners. Indeed, countries such as Norway, Denmark and Finland had for some time signaled the seriousness and depth of the loneliness problem. A study sponsored by Foundation of France highlighted how there are several million French people who declare themselves alone and who suffer as a result of this condition. Not to mention Japan, where the problem of loneliness has reached dramatic dimensions and even resulted in cruel representations of living alone, such as the phenomenon of kodokushi, dying completely alone and often unknown to others.

In Italy

Italy is no less, given that already in 2018 Istat had reported the existence of a serious problem of loneliness, especially among the elderly. About the 30 percent of people over 75 say they have no no person to refer to in case of need, and only eleven per cent of the elderly interviewed said they believed they could count, in case of need, on the support of a neighbour. a worrying situation, given that Italy is among the nations with the most marked demographic imbalance, with a share of over-65s that is already close to 25 percent of the total population. And according to OECD estimates, Italy will become by 2050 it will be the third oldest country on the planetafter Japan and Spain respectively.

After 75 years

It must be said that, in high-income countries, people aged between 65 and 74 are generally in good health and continue to benefit, as in younger ages, from satisfactory levels of social inclusion and availability of resources.
They are people of age over 75 yyears, on the other hand, who often begin to show signs of physical or mental decay and therefore risk crossing the threshold of dependence on others. So much so that the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Sigg) has suggested formally moving the beginning of official old age to 75, in a perspective more in keeping with the current times. The idea of ​​being part of a demographic group characterized by people still considered functionally active, dynamic and full of resources, can only translate into a better sense of acceptance, says De Leo again. And therefore in the possibility of generating better health conditions.