Rabat – Morocco is among the worst places in the world for the elderly people, a new global index has revealed.
According to the Global AgeWatch Index 2015, Morocco is ranked 84th out of 96 in the index which ranks countries based on the social and economic well-being of people over 60.
The index, compiled by HelpAge International, looks at 13 indicators divided into four key domains: income security, health status, capability and enabling environment.
Morocco is ranked (72nd) on health, measured by life expectancy and psychological well-being, and capability (88th), measured by employment and educational status of older people.
Morocco came 89th for enabling environment, scored on access to public transport, physical safety social connectedness and civic freedom, and 65th for income security, which includes pension income coverage, poverty rate in old age, relative welfare and GNI per capita.
Morocco ranked fourth in Africa behind Mauritius (42), South Africa (78), and Ghana (81). Because of lack of data, only 11 countries from Africa are included. In addition to Morocco, only three Arab countries are mentioned in the ranking: Jordan (85), Iraq (87), and Palestine (93rd).
In Morocco, 3.3 million people are over the age of 60. By 2050, the number of old people in Morocco is expected to account for 23, 4% of the entire population, according to the report.
“Despite Africa’s rapid economic growth, poor social and economic wellbeing for older people means most countries continue to rank in the bottom quarter of the Index,” says the report.
According to the report, by 2030, the number of people aged 60 and over in the surveyed countries is expected to reach 39.5 million, representing 6 per cent of the population.
Older people in Africa experience many hardships, with few able to access basic services. Very few of them have pensions and older women are often particularly poor because of discriminatory laws against them, noted the report.
Globally, Switzerland ranked top, followed by Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Iceland, Japan, USA and the United Kingdom. In the bottom ten: Iraq, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania, Pakistan, Palestine, Mozambique, Malawi and Afghanistan.
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