Meeting the Needs of an Aging Society: The Brazilian Example

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• Infant Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy at Birth in Brazil: 1950-2050 (38K)
• Population Pyramids of Brazil: 1980, 200, 2020, 2050 (49K) [description]

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Upcoming Events:

• 21st IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics July 1, 2017
• 20th IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics June 23, 2013

More Resources:

• Interview with Dr. Mohini Giri
• Global Lessons on Building Livable Communities for the Future

Aging Everywhere Profiles:

• Brazil

No longer are older Brazilians depicted by the traditional image of an old man playing checkers in the town square. Nowadays, older adults form a highly heterogeneous group with approximately 15 million consumers, approximately 14 percent of the adult population, with much more power to influence habits than previously imagined. Instead of public squares and older persons' homes, 8.9 million older Brazilians continue to work and support their families, according to data from the Brazilian Geographic and Statistical Institute (IBGE). Furthermore, according to the Institute, in 2050, the population above 60 shall be greater than those under 20.

In 1900, the Brazilian's average life expectancy was below age 30 and, currently, it reaches 70.4 years. As the aging of the population is directly related to the fertility rate, several demographic surveys carried out in recent years have caused great concern among demographers: women are having increasingly fewer children, whereas the elderly are dying at an increasingly older age. In 2000, Brazil had 17 million children below age 5, and 1.6 million people age 80+. In 2050, according to IBGE forecasts, we shall have 15.2 million children under age 5, and 13.7 million men and women over 80.

Furthermore, according to the Institute, in 2050, the population above 60 shall be greater than that below 20. The strongest growth shall be in the age bracket above 80. In 2000, this age bracket accounted for one percent of the population and, in 2050, will reach five percent of all Brazilians.

These numbers are impressive and provide the dimension of how extensively the Brazilian demographic dynamics have changed in the last few decades. In 1985, a person who reached age 60 would live for an additional 18 years. Nowadays, he or she will live, on average, 22 more years. Another piece of data: currently, 13 percent of the population is retired. For the four coming decades, this number shall rise to about 24 percent of the population, that is, one out of every four Brazilians.

To keep one's standard of living upon retirement, it is necessary to secure at least 70 percent of one's pre-retirement earnings. The strategy to reach this target is simple: plan for the future. In Brazil, despite the popular saying that preventing is better than remedying, few people take this tenet seriously. Recent surveys reveal that the country still has 45 million citizens in the informal economy (workers unregistered in the Social Security System), the vast majority of these lacking any financial protection. In other words, the reassurance of a good quality of life at retirement and prevention of grave fi nancial problems in the event of a serious illness still eludes the majority of working age Brazilians.

Accountability for this may be found in the lack of an efficient public policy which can provide subsidies so that children, teenagers in this case, teenage mothers or parents, and adults become concerned about planning for the future. The point is that, both in Brazil and in developed countries, the percentage of people age 60+ will continue to grow, and grow quickly. As a consequence of the new demographic profile and of technological advancement, the scenario points out a clear need for a turnaround. More than this: it increases the need to look into the future and see that modern-day Brazil is no longer a "young" nation.

However, the issue is as follows: who shall take care of this range of the population? Present-day adults are having increasingly fewer children, and thus, there will be increasingly fewer young people to care for their parents in their older years. Furthermore how do we guarantee an effi cient health system and quality of life for this new mass of older citizens in a country like Brazil, where the concept of social security (and welfare) has still not been resolved by the society?

What has been exhaustively done in Brazil is an effort which, in fact, has not generated a satisfactory result, or, at least, the expected outcome. In the Brazilian case, history has created a patrimonial and hierarchical society, which renders it quite distinct from the model of Western capitalist nations. On top of all this, we have witnessed, in recent years, significant changes in the demographic structure and in the makeup of the labor market, which renders the current welfare model untenable, especially if Brazil is to grow and compete with the other big, emerging economies like China and India. With a simple sharing model, the logic of which assumes collective balance-welfare contributions paid by active workers aimed at covering expenditures with retirees' benefits - the Brazilian social security system, in practice, involves an increase in labor productivity on the one hand, and, on the other, the demographic factors mentioned earlier, changing the relationship between contributors and beneficiaries into something absolutely unsustainable from a fiscal perspective.

Currently, older Brazilians are physically active, taking better care of their health, returning to the job market, improving their knowledge by using the Internet, taking on greater responsibilities, and not only finding amusement in bingo halls, but also in theaters, movies, and concert halls. If the welfare solutions - which could assure a good quality of life for these older adults, are not being provided by the government, which has not yet found a model able to deal with the aging of the population, the key to improving this scenario likely lies outside the government, in the concept of private association and voluntary cooperation.

One does not need to be a specialist to understand that the lack of solution to the Brazilian social security crisis and toward a better quality of life for retirees and older citizens shall transfer the responsibility for solutions to private initiative and to the civil society. Organizations throughout the world, such as AARP, work as an important example for the design of a project which provides different approaches for leisure and free-time engagement of older adults, in addition to the guarantee of health and insurance and investment and savings plans. This type of association, in addition to all of its benefi ts, would work in Brazil as a social entity where older adults would have the chance to rebuild their identities and develop new paradigms of what "old age" means in Brazil.

One should understand that, for those reaching their older years, aging is almost like a new start-the beginning of a new lifecycle. In the same way that saving from youth is a habit which is still cultivated in Brazil, it becomes obvious with the increase of longevity and life quality with which people reach old age, that investment options for this population bracket must also be created and expanded. If older adults have been assuming, nowadays, a more important role in society, why not insert them in this context, in a more participatory manner? If the adult is currently influenced by the increase in life expectancy-assuming that, by adopting healthy habits, he or she is able to live longer and wishes to maintain an active aging why not assure him or her this right?

Finally, what can we, as leaders of NGOs and other organizations responsible for creating new forms of assuring a more dignified retirement for the Brazilian people, continue doing? In partnership with society and recognizing the long-term contributions and abilities of each one of our citizens, we are certain that the dynamic changes which have been taking place in Brazil year after year shall offer a further opportunity for NGOs throughout the world to serve as an example of their success to Brazil.

About UNIDOS

National Union of 50+ Persons is an institution which pursues the following objectives: promote, spread and stimulate sports and other social activities among the retired Brazilian population in order to improve their quality of life. Such a goal shall be achieved by means of commercial partnerships offering a large variety of products and services. UNIDOS intends to be the most legitimate voice of 50+ people dealing with the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches, on the Federal, State or County levels in Brazil.

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