The National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), has said that life expectancy in Africa has improved by 11 years.
The Director-General of the NSCDC, Dr. Emem Omokaro, stated this during an interview with journalists at the 61st session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD61) in New York.
According to her, life expectancy in Africa had increased from 51.7 years in 1990-1995 to 62.4 years in 2015-2020, corresponding to a 10.7-year gain notably older ages.
On average, people aged 60 could expect to live a further 17 years, she said.
“Africa’s population of people aged 65 or older has increased from about eight million (3.5 percent) in 1950 to about 50.3 million (4 per cent) in 2017.
“This figure is estimated to more than triple to 173.6 million by 2050,” she said.
Emem added that the population of older persons said was growing at a rate of 0.9 percent faster than the general population.
“We have 110 million older persons in Africa. And the speed and rates, the rates, and the pattern of growth is not the same for all the sub regions.
“The northern and southern region are growing at a faster pace. And then the central and the Western, moderate to new.
“However, the general population is growing and is expected to move from 6.6 per cent in1992 to 8.3 per cent. That’s quite huge.
“We are touting the African continent to be a youthful continent, which is true, the absolute numbers of older persons are increasing, along with the challenges.
“It is also growing along with the opportunities that are there to exploit for economic growth,” she said.
On the National Policy on ageing, she said that Nigeria had gone beyond just developing a national policy on ageing but had a National Plan of Action on Ageing, which was the strategic roadmap on ageing.
“The added advantage that compels implementation of MIPA is the legislation and Nigeria has also done that.
“So, we found in the review that the member states in Africa that have made considerable progress and implementation of MIPAA are those that have national legislations.
“Also, we found out that those countries making progress are those that have established entities focusing on aging and have developed coordination and partnerships with other Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA),” she said.
