WHO press conference UN Global Report on Ageism 16 March 2021

Go to The Who for their briefing on the release of the first UN global report on ageism.

Christian, I give you the floor to introduce the topic and the, the, the, the, the, the presenters.

All right, thank you very much and thanks for for giving us the opportunity for this very important topic and something which is maybe not so unlinked to all the topics we've been discussing today and the last months and and weeks, unfortunately.

So welcome to the briefing on the release of the first UN global report on ageism.

W Joe and UN partners, the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, the Department of Economic Social Affairs and the UN Population Fund are releasing the first global report on ageism this Thursday at around noon.

You have received an invite with the media advisory from our side to register for the launch as well.

That's on Thursday.

The, the the report provides data on how prevalent ageism is, identifies determinants, details the serious impacts and you will of course hear now more from our key speakers, the a briefing and the report and all the material is embargoed until Thursday morning, 6:00 AM our time, Geneva, so 6 CET that's Geneva time with this.

Let me introduce the guests and our key speaker or our main speaker today is Alana officer.

She's the unit head for democratic demographic change in health ageing at W job.

We also have 2 lead authors from WHO with us.

That's Vania de la Fuente Nunez, Technical Officer at the department, and Chris Mctim, also technical office at the Demographic Change and Healthy Agent Ageing Department Unit, actually at The Who.

And we have our three guests representing the three mentioned agencies.

That's Riojada, the team lead of the Human Rights and Economic and Social Issues section at OHCHR, Monica Farrow, the director of the Geneva Office for the UN Population Fund, and Amal Abu Rafi, the Chief of Programme on Ageing unit at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN visa.

What we'll do is, of course, we'll have Alana Officer, give you some introductionary points and then we're open for question and we try to route them through our main speakers here.

[Other language spoken]

And over to you, Alana.

Thank you very much, Christian, and thank you very much everybody for being here.

So age is 1 of the first characteristics, in fact, along with gender and race, that we tend to notice about other people when we interact with them.

It is also one of the main aspects on which we categorise people, and age has also been the basis for social division which can result in injustice, in harm and lack of solidarity across generations.

So in the Global report on ageism, ageism is defined and refers to the bias towards a particular age group or a cohort.

We know that it affects people of all ages and that that bias can be positive or negative.

It can be something that we're conscious of or unconscious of.

And we can direct that bias towards ourselves, we can direct it towards others and it can manifest in our institutions, through our policies, through our laws, through social norms and practises.

But ageism as defined in the report has three main dimensions.

It's the stereotypes.

So how we think, prejudice how we feel and discrimination how we act.

We're not born ageist, but it starts early and it's reinforced over time.

So children as young as four years of age are aware of the culture, stereotypes and prejudice through story books, through media, through family.

These stereotypes tend to be internalised and then they're used to guide our feelings and our behaviours towards people of different ages and towards ourselves.

And ageism intersects and exacerbates other forms of disadvantage like sex and race and disability.

And the report found that ageism is everywhere.

It is in our healthcare systems, it is in our workplaces, it is in our social care, it is in our media.

So it's great to be talking to you guys.

For example, we see ageism in the policies that support healthcare rationing by age.

In the report, 85% of the 149 studies found that age determined who received medical procedures and treatments and who did not.

Ageism is found in practises that limit younger people's opportunities to contribute to decision making in politics, in their workplace or denying older people jobs or training.

The under representation that we see in the media and the report speaks to this, and the negative portrayal of older people is a classic sign of ageism, but it also is representing the behaviours that limit really what we do and what we think is OK because of our age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has really revealed just how prevalent and accepted ageism is, with public discourse suggesting that all older people are somehow the same, all frail, all vulnerable, and yet all younger people are invincible, both of which are inaccurate and harmful.

So how big is the problem?

One in two people, or half of the world's population are ages against older people, with rates much higher in low and lower middle income countries.

For younger people, we have much limited, much more limited data.

In Europe, which is the only region for which we have data that compares across age groups, younger people report much more age discrimination than other age groups.

[Other language spoken]

The report indicates that you are likely to be ageist against older people.

If you are younger, you're male, you're fearful of dying or you're less educated, you're more likely to experience ageism.

If you're older, you're care dependent or you live in a country that has a lower level of healthy life expectancy, or you happen to work in sectors like **** tech or hospitality, being female means you're much more likely to be a target of ageism against younger people.

So it's highly prevalent.

But in terms of its impact, we know that ageism from the evidence has far reaching and really serious consequences in terms of people's health in their well-being and their human rights.

It changes how we view ourselves, it can devalue and limit our ability to benefit from younger and older population, and it can erode solidarity between generations.

But the effects go much further.

Ageism has been associated with poorer physical and mental health, slower recovery from disability in older age, and earlier death.

But ageism also risks or increases risky health behaviours such as eating an unhealthy diet, smoking and excessive use of alcohol.

It also increases social isolation and loneliness and reduces quality of life.

It also has really far reaching consequences for individuals and society and costs our societies billions of dollars.

But the overarching message is actually really optimistic we can combat ageism.

The report outlines 3 strategies which work in both reducing and eliminating ageism, policy and law, educational activities and intergenerational interventions so policy and law can in fact address discrimination and inequality on the basis of age and protect the human rights of everyone, everywhere.

Educational activities work to enhance empathy, can help dispel misconceptions about different age groups and reduce prejudice by providing accurate information and counter stereotypical examples.

They can also be included in all levels and all types of education.

Intergenerational interventions which bring people together of different generations can really help reduce intergroup prejudice and stereotypes.

And they're one of the most effective interventions reducing ageism against older people, and they show great promise in terms of reducing ageism against younger people.

[Other language spoken]

The evidence suggests we need to implement these three strategies together.

So in terms of conclusions and way forward, we really need to do something to end ageism.

We need to implement and scale up the evidence based strategies that prevent and tackle ageism.

We need to work on improving our data and research to gain a better understanding of ageism, particularly around younger people and also in low and middle income countries, and expand our research on the strategies to really optimise their intervention.

And we need to work collectively to change the narrative to have much more accurate and positive narratives.

We know that culture is fluid.

Look at the change that that women have experienced, at least in my lifetime.

[Other language spoken]

It has incredibly serious effects on our health, on our well-being and on our economy.

And it affects you, it affects me, it affects us all.

So and we all have a role to play so in challenging it and eliminating it.

So that is the overview of the report.

I'm going to pass back to Christian.

Thank you very much.

Christian, you want to add something or we go to questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Elena.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Miss Officer for that, that briefing.

Let's see if we have any questions.

We have one online from Paula Dupras Dobias.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for taking my question.

I just wanted to know, you said that ageism costs society billions of dollars.

I mean, how first of all, do you have a concrete number and how do you, how did you reach that sort of very rough estimates?

And yeah, I mean, I, I, I'd just be interested to know, you know, how you calculate like potentially all the abilities that perhaps, you know, older people may have to stay in the workforce and that are discriminated against because of their agents.

Basically, you know, how that that lost contribution in work is calculated.

Can we open the microphone for miss officer?

That would maybe be some.

Sorry, Kristen, we're not hearing you.

Your mic is muted.

I said that could be something for Doctor de la Fermente Nunez or Doctor Officer.

Yeah, actually, on the cost, I'm going to pass over to Doctor Mcton, who worked on that section.

Doctor Mcton, can we bring in Doctor Mcton, please?

[Other language spoken]

There we go.

[Other language spoken]

So we don't have that much data on the cost, but there was a recent study in 2020 which tried to calculate the cost of a health consequences of ageism in the US.

And this reached a conclusion that about one in $7.00, that's $63 billion in total spent on the 8 most expensive health conditions among older people was due to ages.

Now how they go about calculating this I can try to explain to you, but it's, it's quite complicated.

But I think what's important about this is one of the only estimates, but it still shows that it amounts to billions.

And what's important is that it's such a huge amount that if we develop interventions that only have a modest effect, they can still bring down the cost very significantly.

There's also one other study in Australia that looks at the cost of early retirement that can at least partly be due to ageism, and it found that if 5% more people worked after the age of 55, it would increase the national economy by about 48 billion.

That was Australian dollars.

So we have a few studies that give us some indication, but they're quite clear.

It is billions at the national level.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that verification.

Let's see if we have other questions.

Yes, buddy, Buddy Hugger from Phoenix Television.

Hi, Doctor.

Officer, I have a question as ATV journalist.

I just wondered what during your speech, what's it behind you as a background, the painting?

What's the painting significated for the officer?

Madam, All right.

Did you, Miss officer, did you understand the question?

[Other language spoken]

The background behind you has a painting.

What are significating?

What is the significance of the painting in your background?

I'm not sure that it has anything to do with ageism, but no.

But as ATV as a television journalist, I'm wonder to to understand.

[Other language spoken]

OK, Miss Officer.

[Other language spoken]

It's a painting from Rajasthan in India of Peacocks.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for clarifying that.

We have other questions online.

Lisa Schlein from Voice of America.

[Other language spoken]

It's a it's a beautiful painting.

Was it painted by an elder, by any chance?

I have a couple of questions for you.

One is if you could give us some concrete examples of how COVID-19 is impacting on elderly people.

And then along with the discrimination and stereotypes that we've been brought up with, we hear a lot about the wisdom of the elders.

Is that a myth?

For instance, Native American people talk a lot about the wisdom of the elders.

You also have this going in other cultures in developing countries.

By and large, I believe you have the Maori's in New Zealand and so forth.

And sorry, but a third thing is that you made a quick mention about ageism in societies where people die younger.

You didn't really elaborate upon that.

I mean, there are there are many countries that are so impoverished that in Africa, for instance, elsewhere as well, where people die at a younger age than they do in developed countries.

And I'm wondering whether ageism is adjusted to an earlier age in that case, whether the kind of discrimination then hits people at age, what, 50 or 60 rather than 7080 or 90.

[Other language spoken]

Miss Officer, do you want to tackle that question or should someone will someone else come on?

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I'll start with the last question and then pass over to my colleague Bunya for the one on on COVID.

So thanks very much, Lisa.

Yeah, I spoke to the point that ageism in fact is much more prevalent in lower middle income countries or in low and lower middle income countries actually, and in those countries that have got lower levels of healthy life expectancy.

And that's a little man bites dog because there is a tendency to think that in developing countries that respect towards older adults is in fact higher.

But indeed the report showed very distinctly much higher rates of ageism, both moderate and **** levels of ageism and low and low and middle income countries and lower rates of ageism in **** income countries.

And we think that that plays out largely due to the fact that there are poorer levels of health in older age in low and lower middle income countries and without the same sorts of supports that we tend to see in higher income countries in terms of access to pensions, access to to social insurance and long term care.

And that that may in fact exacerbate negative attitudes towards older adults in terms of generally aspects related to wisdom.

I mean, all stereotypes are may are generalisations and over generalisations, whether that be all older people being frail and vulnerable or older people being wise.

Clearly there are many older people that that fit into those different categories.

But I think the problem that we've that the report really highlights.

Is the sense of considering that any age or any cohort that there is something typical about a particular age?

So I'd like to pass over to Banyan de la Fuente to comment on the how ageism is playing out in terms of the pandemic.

Hello, good afternoon.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

I mean, just to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made HSN more visible and I believe also more tangible and real for in people's lives.

We know that in certain contexts, H has been used as the sole criteria to determine access to medical services, to life sustaining therapies and even to determine physical isolation measures.

So for example, in some contexts only people over the age of 70, for example, were asked to self isolate for months, over four months for example.

And even when lockdown measures were lifted in certain countries, this this did not apply equally across age groups in certain contexts.

For example, older people were then not allowed to entry into malls or even to access public transportation when all other age groups were allowed.

And this of course had consequences in terms of their ability to access, for example, shops to be able to procure food or even prescription drugs.

It also had influenced and and potentially increased the likelihood of loneliness and social isolation and did have consequences in terms of their ability to access health and social care in the context of the pandemic.

We have also seen, as Alana was mentioning, an ageist discourse around older and younger people.

So older people have been systematically and homogeneously framed as vulnerable and and dependent, and younger people have been stereotyped as invincible and selfish, which of course fails to recognise the great diversity that we see both in younger people and in older people.

But beyond the fact that it creates those stereotypes, we also know that these exposure to to age of stereotypes in the media even bear very brief exposure has creates harm.

So for example, we know that brief exposure to age of stereotypes for older adults has an impact in their performance, for example, in memory tasks.

So again, unless we eliminate this age of discourse in the media and unless we make sure that the policies that we put in place are not ageist, we're not likely to get very far.

And we're also creating harm in terms of people's health and well-being as as we've mentioned earlier.

Thank you very much.

Christian has reminded me that Amal Abu Rafi wanted to add something on the cost issue.

So maybe we can bring Amal Abu Rafi in and then we'll go to other questions from AFP and ARDPA here in the room.

And John Baracosta.

[Other language spoken]

I just wanted to add another example on what our colleague Chris was mentioning in terms of what kind of economic impacts do Aegis policies and legislation have on on the, you know, on the economies of countries.

The last report of the Secretary General to the General Assembly made reference to a study made by an NGO in the USARP that explored the economic cost of age discrimination in the workplace.

And their data showed that in 2018 there was a potential uplift of more than 5% in GDP.

That's 850 billion U.S.

dollars, which was foregone because older workers at the age of 50 years and over were not given the opportunity to remain or reenter the labour force, switch jobs or be promoted within their existing companies.

And that study also showed that the economic contribution of older people to the US and that country, had it been a country on its own, in terms of what it generated in GDP, it would have ranked 3rd as a country following the US and China.

We're more than happy to share the SGS report or peace studies for those who are interested.

[Other language spoken]

Many thanks for that clarification.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, just a question on some of the findings.

You said you're likely to be ageist against older people if you are younger, if you are male, if you are fearful of dying, etcetera.

Could you tell us a bit more about how you how you reached those conclusions because they're, because on the face of it, they sound quite broad?

[Other language spoken]

Who will be taking this question?

Thank you very much.

Thanks very much, Robin.

So we looked at study which covered 52 countries and 83,400 people over the age of 18 and looked at attitudes on.

So in terms of related to older people, a range of of attitudes and then ranked those attitudes as being low ages, moderately ages and **** ages.

And then having looked at across those different participants in the study, then looked at which were the factors which were associated with moderate and **** ageist attitudes.

And that data showed that in fact it was younger, male and less educated people that tended to have more moderate and highly ageist attitudes.

The fearful of death data, in fact, comes from other studies, which is supported a lot by sort of theories around terror management that show that people who are more fearful of dying also tend to be more ageist and, and, and more fearful of, of older adults generally.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry.

And.

[Other language spoken]

And then I'll come back to Christian.

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Can you hear me there?

[Other language spoken]

Real.

[Other language spoken]

If I could come back to the authors of the report, how detailed is your analysis with reference to the institutional elements?

I'm thinking about the the health insurance and the the bias they have as people get older, the premiums to go up and how much that has been impacted by a medical profession and the medical research and multilateral institutions like The Who.

And secondly, if you have looked at the cultural dimensions where in in some Western cultures individualism is top of the range and traditional values of societies where the older people are part of the family are looked down upon.

And thirdly, there is the element, the industry, the growth industry of all people's homes, which are also a big money spinners in these developed economies.

[Other language spoken]

There were several questions.

Who will be taking those?

[Other language spoken]

OK, thank you very much for for those questions.

Just to get to the to the last one, which I believe was the how we have considered different, how ages manifest differently across different cultures.

So we have looked not only at prevalence across countries as Alana was mentioning, where we did find that there is higher prevalence of ageism towards older people in low and lower middle income countries.

But we've also looked at existing systematic and, and literature reviews that have looked at whether there are differences in terms of the problems of ageism in cultures such as the one, for example, in in countries like China where there is disrespect for older people and, and the sense of filial piety, as opposed to other countries where that's not so much the case.

And the findings are not conclusive in the sense that even though they parted from that hypothesis that it would be likely more likely in countries where there's filial piety to be less ages towards older people, We did not find necessarily that they that this was the case.

So again, going back to the main findings, we found higher prevalence in low and lower middle income countries, including in countries in Southeast Asia and, and, and the African region, which goes against some of those assumptions.

I think that we often have that in in in cultures where there's the sense that older people are respected and there's filial piety, there is no ageism.

So that's to answer that that first question, the last question that you were asking in terms of institutional ageism, the findings that we include in the report are based on a series of systematic reviews, which basically look very systematically at all available evidence on the topic.

And, and here we found so for example, in relation to ageism towards older people that it is highly prevalent in health and social care.

As Alana was mentioning, age often defines who access, who has access to certain treatment and prevention.

Ageism is also present in research which which I believe the journalist was racing.

So we know that older adults do not have equal opportunities to participate in clinical trials, which is very concerning given that they they occupy this proportionate share of burden of disease.

And they also are a population group that has that consumes prescription drugs quite disproportionately if you can pair it with other age groups, which means that if they are then not given the opportunities to participate in clinical trials, we have almost no information regarding the efficacy and the safety profiles of the medications that they then are prescribed.

We also know that in terms of institutions that ageism is prevalent, for example, in employment and it takes place across the entire work cycle.

So from limiting opportunities to be employed in the 1st place to also how you are treated once you are in employment, which effects both younger and older people.

So for example, in in terms of access to training, opportunities to promotion and even to have the opportunity to stay in the workplace.

So in different contexts, for example, we know that there is mandatory and mandatory age of retirement, which forces people essentially to leave the workplace regardless of their ability to perform or their willingness to continue working.

So again, also present in in that institution.

But there are many other examples including so in the legal system, including in housing.

So again, the report really lays out all of the evidence that we have been able to find with regards to how ages manifest across a a very wide range of of sectors.

[Other language spoken]

Let's go to Christian Erlich here from German Press Agency.

Yes, I'm not exactly sure how to frame this, but since I'm 50 plus and I'm part of this generation that suffers potentially from ages, maybe I can.

Is it not allowed to say that older people, for example you were talking about COVID, that it does affect older people disproportionately and that they get sicker faster and die more?

Is that not allowed to say?

Is that ageism and reverse question?

Is the fact that I don't get my vaccine because older people are prioritised?

Is that positive ageism?

[Other language spoken]

Do we go back to Miss de la Fuenta Nunez for this?

Is that a yes, yeah.

Or Miss Miss Officer Alana Officer, would you would like to respond to this.

Thank you very much.

So Christian, welcome.

I'm 52 and it's it's a it's a great thing to celebrate.

So in terms of sorry stereo, sorry I just in terms of not getting your vaccine, clearly we want to prioritise those who are most in need and it is not ages to say that that older people experience more severe illness than than and people with multi morbidities and underlying health conditions experience more serious illness are at greater risk of dying than those that don't.

Yeah, where I think Mania was speaking to was where we categorise all older people as vulnerable as if there is a typical 50 year old or a typical 60 year old.

So I think it's really where we tend to and, and COVID is, is an interesting example because age is a risk factor in terms of, of COVID and therefore we have to be very careful about not being blind to the implications of age in terms of the disease and in terms of the pandemic.

And at the same time, not categorising all older people is, is the same.

We know that you can have incredible diversity in older age.

You can have a 60 year old who has the physical and mental capacities of a 35 year old.

You can have another 60 year old who requires support with their basic activities of daily living and there's that incredible diversity.

So the major generalisations, you know, that all older people are somehow frail and vulnerable is really what plays out in terms of ageism.

[Other language spoken]

So yes, we can talk about older people and factually the implications that the pandemic is having, but not consider all older people in the same bucket.

[Other language spoken]

And I think Miss de la Fontanias wants to add something on this.

Yeah, Just to add to what Alana was saying, I think the issue becomes when we used age as a sole criterion, for example, to determine access to health services, to life saving therapies.

And we have seen that that has happened in certain contexts.

And it's it's when age in that sense is used as a criterion to determine access to to things in, in ways that lead to to harm and and injustice.

Where where a problem arises, as Alana was mentioning there there is no harm and it's actually based on facts that that age is a risk factor for more severe disease and potentially a higher risk of death of COVID.

So of course that's based on facts.

I think that the issue that we're trying to raise here is that in the context of the pandemic, we have seen that age has been used to chronological age to determine who has access to certain things and also who, how do we apply physical isolation measures, for example, which then has impacts on on people's health and well-being.

[Other language spoken]

Gabriela Sotomayor and then Peter Kenny.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for this press conference.

I am a Gabriella Sotomayor, Mexican journalist.

I would like to know within this moment of COVID in which we turn to see the elderly, I mean, because they were, I mean, very threatened, but they were also treated very badly.

So you would say that COVID has been a decisive moment in making the situation of elderly visible.

And then another question like a follow up that what you said with the advances in science, healthy lifestyles, many people in their 60s, seventies, even 80s are very active, feel good, are healthy and in the fullness of their lives.

So it is not too early to retire at 65.

[Other language spoken]

Gabriela, who will take this question?

Hello, who will take this question?

Oh, the the part about COVID will get to give to Doctor Fuente and the the general one then back to Doctor Officer, please.

Sorry, could I ask you to repeat the question about COVID?

I guess I was now remembering the last part of the question.

Apologies, yes, yeah, if, if COVID is, it's a decisive moment in making the situation of the elderly visible.

Yeah, thank, thank you so much for for that question.

I mean, I think COVID has certainly made the situation of of older people and generally ageism a lot more visible.

And and there is the same that if.

If we can't see a problem, we can't fix the problem I think.

COVID in, in, in a way has helped give visibility to the issue of ageism happening across cultures.

And now that also with the reports we have evidence on what works to address ageism, we can certainly move forward to, to fixing this, this issue that cuts across cultures, cuts across ages.

[Other language spoken]

But certainly the COVID-19 pandemic has has helped to to give this ability to to ageism and and the situation of older people, the situation of long term care facilities across country.

[Other language spoken]

And for the more general question, do we go back to Miss officer?

Yes, yeah, thank you very much and thank you very much, Gabriella.

So there was an assumption I think in in what you said was that we are actually, while we're living longer, we're ageing healthily or more healthily than than previous generations.

And unfortunately the evidence doesn't support the fact that all of us are in fact reduce, you know, living both longer and healthier lives.

So that's one important thing.

Those that do tend to be living longer and healthier lives have had have been living in healthier environments, have had better access to education and have had better access to resources to be able to enable them to live both longer and healthier lives.

So, so that's one issue.

The other issue is, is really around choice.

So if we have mandatory retirement age and which is ageist, which means that people need to stop working at a certain age, and then that limits choice.

So what we're proposing in terms of the report is really around limiting decisions which are purely based on age.

Yeah, which are not based on, in the case of COVID, that are not based also on people's underlying health conditions, people's ability to function, people's ability to benefit from care in the case of work, people's performance, people's ability to do their job, people's desire to remain in employment.

So really in these instances, trying to eliminate age as a basis for categorisation, as the sole basis for categorisation.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

And I understand that Amal Abu Rafi would like to add something.

[Other language spoken]

So just to add on to what Alana was mentioning and that is a very good point, these mandatory retirement age and what's the right age to stop working.

What we're saying from our data is that the share of older people aged 65 and over in the labour force is has increased and is estimated to continue its upward trend at a faster rate in the near future.

And it's because many older people choose to work beyond retirement ages.

It's it's, it gives them a sense of worth, a sense of dignity.

And in some cases, it's because there aren't enough coverage and adequate benefits that they could survive on pensions if and when they do receive them.

But it's what's also interesting and I would like to add to this conversation is what we know about the participation of older people in the informal economy.

So worldwide, 3 out of four older people continue to work in informal employment.

And we know that entering this isn't out of choice, it's out of lack of opportunities and absence of other means of livelihood where older people have to continue working well into older age to sustain themselves and their families, especially in the context of low or non existing systems with with adequate benefits.

So just to add a little bit to that conversation.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

2, you have a follow up, Christian.

OK, quickly and then we'll go to Peter and then finish with John.

Just a very quick follow up to Amal.

If you are talking about 3 out of four older people continue informal employment, is this 50 plus or what is the age range here?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, the data is 60 years and over for that.

So we know that participation in the informal economy is affected by the life course and it is as **** for people aged 60 years and over as it is for the youth.

But in the UN, we seem to focus more on youth and informal economy, whereas just the same ratio applies to older people as well.

[Other language spoken]

My question actually follows on a little bit from this because from what I can observe in Western countries, there's an increasing tendency to increase the age of pension ability of people upwards.

And there's at the same time tendency by companies to lower the age of re employability in staff jobs.

Say, for instance, for those people who are fortunate enough to have staff jobs.

Do you cover this in your report on ageism?

And do you see it as a form of ageism, right.

Who would like to take that question?

[Other language spoken]

In terms of, you know, the evidence around the association between ageism explicitly and changes in pensionable age.

[Other language spoken]

We know that there are other factors in terms of obviously increasing health concerns over, you know, healthcare and social care costs, which tend to drive some of these questions.

But a lot of those also the the factors driving those decisions are because of of age, of stereotypes, the idea that somehow having a greater percentage of older people is going to send us all broke.

Now this is not covered in this report, but if you want to read the World Report on Ageing and health, it addresses this issue directly really around the fact that there is very limited evidence to suggest that that having a larger percentage of older people is in effect going to to send their health and social care systems broke.

So that's addressed much more in the World Report on Ageing and Health, which is also a really good rate, but not specifically in the global report on ageism.

[Other language spoken]

And let's take one last question from John Zaracosta.

Yes, I'd, I'd like to come back and get some clarity.

I I on the answer earlier that some people might be in the 60s and physically and mentally feel 35 or less and the reverse for some people in their 30s feeling in their 60s.

[Other language spoken]

What does the peer reviewed literature show on this, especially on the Physiology and the mental health of these two groups that you were highlighted?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks very much, John.

I mean I was I was using that as an example to to really reflect back on on our assumption that we're in fact reducing that gap which is still quite significant between length of life and healthy life expectancy.

And this is topic is really well addressed in the World Report on on ageing and health.

It's also addressed more specifically in a recent baseline report that's just been published by WHO on the on the Decade of Healthy Ageing.

But what we can see from longitudinal data over the last few decades is that in fact we're not seeing major changes in low levels of disability between generations.

We have seen a reduction in severe declines in or or in physical and mental capacity, but not really changes over time.

But as I said, we see incredible diversity, you know, across populations, given that chronological age, your ageing years is only loosely correlated with biological age.

And because of the fact that that correlation is relatively loose, we see incredible diversity in physical and mental capacity and different age groups.

We have seen over time increasing cognitive capacities improvements over time, but we're not seeing the same improvements, for example, in physical capacity over the last few generations.

If you're interested in more information, John, very happy to send it to you.

Thank you very much for this extremely informative briefing, very comprehensive, very rich.

I don't have there are no other questions.

So I think we will be able to close this press conference at this point.

Thank you to all of the speakers.

We had Alana Officer, the unit head of them, for Democratic Change and Healthy Ageing at WHO, Vania de la Fuente Nunez, Technical Officer, Democratic Change and Healthy Ageing at WHO.

We had Chris Mcton, Technical Officer, Democratic Change and demographic Change Rather and healthy ageing at WHO.

We had Rio Hada team lead on Human Rights and Economic and Social Issues Section at the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Monica Farrow, the Director of the Geneva Office for the United Nations Population Fund, and finally, Amal Abu Rafi, the Chief Programme on Ageing Unit at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Thank you to all of you for being with us and to Christian for organising this briefing.

So a reminder that this this briefing is still under embargo regarding the release of the first UN global report on ageism.

And the report and all data are embargoed until 6:00 AM Central European Time, Geneva on Thursday, the 18th of March.

[Other language spoken]

And good, thank you.

Thank you to everyone and I wish you a very good afternoon.