The official start of aging should be moved to 75 – Corriere.it

There is a silent epidemic sweeping through developed societies. The cause is not a virus, but rather the result of social shifts. It is aboutLoneliness epidemic that magazine economic It was recently dubbed “the leprosy of the 21st century”.

The size of the problem

“Studies conducted in different parts of the world, but above all in the United States and the United Kingdom, have shown this Up to 50 percent of the population may suffer from loneliness»says Diego Di Leo, psychiatrist, president of the 5th National Day of the AIP against the Unity of the Elderly, which took place in Padua at the Altinate San Gaetano Cultural Center. “They are alone children and adolescents, alone are young mothers, divorcees, the elderly, those who take care of them, and people in mourning. Indeed, countries such as Norway, Denmark and Finland have for some time pointed out the seriousness and depth of the problem of loneliness. Sponsored study De Fr FoundationWe highlighted how there are many millions of self-declared French people who suffer as a result of this condition. «Not to mention Japan, where the problem of loneliness has reached dramatic proportions and has also given rise to harsh representations of living alone, such as the phenomenon of Kodokoshi, dying all alone It is often unknown to others.

In Italy

Italy is no less so, given that Istat had already reported in 2018 a serious problem of loneliness, especially among the elderly. “on 30 percent of people over 75 say they don’t There is no one to refer to in case of need, And only 11 percent of the elderly interviewed said that they believed that they could count, in case of need, on the support of a neighbor. It is a worrying situation, given that Italy is among the countries with the most pronounced demographic imbalance, with the proportion of people over 65 already approaching 25 percent of the total population. And, according to OECD estimates, it will become Italy By 2050 the third oldest country on the planetrespectively after Japan and Spain ».

After 75 years

It must be said that in high-income countries, people between the ages of 65 and 74 are generally good health and continue to benefit, as at younger ages, from satisfactory levels of Social inclusion and availability of resources.
They are old more than 75 y.oyears, on the other hand, who often begin to show signs of physical or mental decay, and thus risk crossing the threshold of codependency. So much so that the Italian Society of Gerontology and Gerontology (Sigg) has officially proposed moving the beginning of the “official” old age to 75, from a perspective more in line with the current era. “The idea of ​​being part of a population characterized by people who are still considered functionally active, dynamic, and resourceful can only translate to a better sense of acceptance,” Di Leo says. «Thus in the possibility of generating better sanitary conditions».