The Aged in Africa

Africa's older population is growing fast. 

According to a 2017 UN report on population ageing, Africa's elderly population is expected to grow faster than in any other region in the world. The continent's population aged 60 and over is "projected to increase more than threefold between 2017 and 2050, from 69 to 225 million". In some countries, the number is expected to increase even faster. In Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, for example, the report anticipates that older populations will quadruple by 2050. According to a 2015 World Health Organization report, Africa's productivity loss due to just non-communicable diseases among the 60+ age group was valued at 159 billion international dollars (the dollar equivalent in purchasing power for the specific region).

But despite their increasing numbers, Africa's older population continues to be largely overlooked.  In Sub Saharan Africa, universal pensions that provide for older populations exist in fewer than 10 countries. Contributory pensions, which are offered based on past earnings and contributions to pension schemes, are common in many African countries. But those social safety nets exclude people working in the informal sector, which accounts for 85 percent of employment in Africa. For the 6.3 percent of Sub Saharan Africa's working-age population that contributed to a pension scheme, the payout is often not enough to cover their living expenses because pension payouts are only a percentage of earnings before retirement and are not adequately adjusted for inflation.

In 2016, the African Union member states adopted the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on The Rights of Older Persons in Africa. The charter urged all African countries to put in place policy measures to protect the rights and address the needs of their older populations. But of the 54 member states, only 14 signed the charter and, in the four years since, Benin and Lesotho are the only two nations to formally ratify it. 

Many African countries, such as Nigeria, which has the largest older population in Sub Saharan Africa, do not yet have a functional policy focused on older people. But even when countries have policies focused on older populations, the lack of coordination between government agencies along with insufficient budgets make implementing those policies a challenge. Cameroon and Nigeria, for example, have plans for training healthcare professionals for geriatric care, but experts have pointed out that such steps have not translated into action and that government support is "almost non-existent."

Contributory pensions, which are offered based on past earnings and contributions to pension schemes, are common in many African countries. But those social safety nets exclude people working in the informal sector, which accounts for 85 percent of employment in Africa. For the 6.3 percent of Sub Saharan Africa's working-age population that contributed to a pension scheme, the pay-out is often not enough to cover their living expenses because pension pay-outs are only a percentage of earnings before retirement and are not adequately adjusted for inflation.

In the absence of strong healthcare and social protection systems, the economic weight of caring for older people will increasingly fall on family members. A study in a peri-urban district of Ghana showed that 94 percent of the surveyed caregivers spend nearly half of their income on caregiving while 59 percent of caregivers said they had to give up one or more necessities to care for an older member of their family. With a large portion of their income going towards caregiving, families are left with little disposable income for saving. 

As the Cameroonian proverb says, rain does not fall on one roof alone. If Africa continues to overlook its older population, the impact will not only hurt them, but the entire continent.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/africa-population-aging-social-protection-200516101003773.html