July 2002
This statement was prepared for the Second World Assembly on Ageing, Madrid, 8-12 April 2002
Population ageing - the increase in the proportion of 'older people' in the population - is one of the most important demographic processes shaping the world today. The theme is of immediate concern to developed countries where ageing is already well advanced and will continue, with considerable social and economic repercussions. In recent years, however, the process has gained significance also in developing regions where a number of countries have started to be concerned with the long-term implications of their ageing populations.
It is often assumed that in developing countries, ageing proceeds faster in urban areas where fertility and mortality declines are typically more advanced than in rural settings. In reality, however, ageing in rural communities usually manifests itself earlier and advances more rapidly than in the cities. By far the most important determinant is rural-to-urban migration which comprises mainly younger adults and thus increases the proportion of older persons 'left behind' in the villages. In some rural areas, ageing is further accelerated by factors such as the return of older persons, often upon retirement from the urban workforce, or the increased mortality among younger adults due to HIV/AIDS. Thus, in the majority of poorer countries, ageing is predominantly a rural phenomenon.
FAO has a long-standing interest in rural ageing and has identified work on this topic as one of its priorities in the field of sustainability. The World Food Summit held in Rome in 1996 helped FAO to shift its perspective from an emphasis on production to a more holistic focus on rural development. We view ageing as a key component of rural demographic change, with potentially major implications for the composition of the rural labour force, patterns of agricultural production, land tenure, social organisation, and rural development in general. In adopting this perspective, we seek not only to strengthen the existing emphasis on the well-being of older rural inhabitants, but also to promote more general developmental programmes for the ageing rural areas.
The overall conclusion emerging from FAO's work is that there are many dimensions to the impact of population ageing on agriculture and rural development. The effects are co-determined by factors such as population density, economic productivity, economies of scale, agricultural technologies, and social and economic policies. In some settings, rural ageing can significantly add to existing problems in agriculture and rural development. With the shift towards an older age structure, livelihood strategies of rural households may become less forward-looking and more subsistence-oriented. Production options, such as cropping patterns, may evolve towards less labour-intensive activities. The increasing demands of agricultural modernisation may drive many older farmers from their lands. The upshot may be an overall deterioration in the welfare of the elderly village populations. Ultimately, rural elderly may face serious problems of over-work, isolation, poor nutrition and insufficient means of subsistence. Older women, who usually form the majority of rural seniors, suffer in some cultures extra disadvantages arising from discrimination on account of old age, widowhood, illiteracy and gender. Moreover, in rural communities heavily affected by HIV/AIDS, older women's workload is increasing as they find themselves in charge of large numbers of young orphans and with no one left to produce the food needed to feed them. One aspect of this issue is that rural elderly could lose out against urban elderly if they are placed in competition for scarce resources. Therefore, decision-makers should be alerted to the relative vulnerability of elderly rural residents.
Yet rural ageing should not be a priori viewed as an entirely negative trend. The benefits of ageing include the wealth of skills and experience that older people can bring to the workplace, to public life, families and households. In particular, rural elderly often have considerable knowledge in farming practices, in plants and their various uses for nutritional and medicinal purposes. The elderly typically act as guardians of old traditions in farming, and many of those may be more ecologically sound than modern techniques. In order to protect biodiversity, which is an essential element of sustainable agriculture, such indigenous knowledge must not be lost. Older people are also crucial in the inter-generational transmission of cultural identity and social cohesion. Furthermore, evidence from some developing countries suggests that under certain conditions rural ageing can contribute to agricultural intensification, for example by facilitating the sort of property transfers that lead to land consolidation and the creation of more economically rational holdings. Likewise, return migration of older persons from cities to rural areas may represent a significant input for the rural economy in terms of capital and expertise.
Ageing issues in developing countries deserve attention not only because developing regions contain most of the world's older people, but also because developing countries have to address the implications of ageing from a very different economic and social base than was the case in the developed world. Furthermore, since relatively large shifts in rural age structures will be compressed into relatively short periods, developing countries will have less time to adapt than the developed ones had. Developmental agencies such as FAO have an important duty to assist poorer countries in formulating effective policies and programmes for their ageing rural populations. While the reality of ageing poses numerous challenges to food security and rural development, it also offers a unique opportunity to rethink existing agricultural strategies. Given the expected demographic dynamics, rural development in poorer countries will be increasingly powered by older persons. Therefore, recognising older people as active participants in social change is essential for devising new strategies to ensure that rural development takes place. Stereotyping, particularly the kind that sees the elderly merely as a burden, should be opposed at all times. Developmental policies can only succeed if they take advantage of the resource that older people represent and if they provide the elderly with adequate support.
To assist developing countries in dealing with rural ageing issues, the FAO Population and Development Service has produced and/or commissioned the following studies:
The elderly, HIV/AIDS and sustainable rural development (by J. du Guerny, January 2002)
Rural population ageing in poorer countries: possible implications for rural development (by L. Stloukal, May 2001)
Population ageing in developing societies: how urgent are the issues? (by A. Marcoux, April 2001)
Can agricultural censuses tell us about rural population ageing in developing countries? (by L. Stloukal, September 2000)
Linkages between rural population ageing, intergenerational transfers of land and agricultural production: are they important? (by D. Iaquinta, J. du Guerny and L. Stloukal, September 1999)
Ageing of rural populations in Southeast and East Asia (by R. Skeldon, April 1999)
The rural elderly and the ageing of rural populations (by J. du Guerny, August 1997)
For further information on rural ageing and agriculture, please contact:
Population and Development Service
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy
Phone: +39 06 570 54852, Fax: +39 06 570 55490
E-mail: Marcela.Villarreal@fao.org, Libor.Stloukal@fao.org
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