Where will those of a working age find a working wage?
8 April 2002

By Robbie Thompson

As the first UN World Assembly on Ageing for 20 years opens today in Madrid, one of the biggest challenges facing governments is how to keep economies working as populations in developed countries age while developing countries continue to experience population booms, forcing people to search for employment in societies reluctant to accept them.

A choice - welcome migrant workers or carry on working until you are 75. Put individually, the choice might seem simple yet the reality, for governments and communities, is proving much harder to face up to.

Media interest for the World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid this week is focussing on the "demographic time bomb", "the greying of Europe (or America, or Japan)", and indeed these are phenomena which will arrive, and which we should rightly prepare for. But the time for wringing of hands passed long ago and new ways of looking at our ageing population must be embraced if we are to survive.

Let's be clear: ageing is nothing new. Men and women have been getting older since the days of Adam and Eve. From the moment we are born, we start to age. The phenomenon does not apply solely to "elders" or "seniors".

But now that Europe, and other developed countries, are reaping the harvest of low population growth, we face declining populations (Japan's will fall by 17 per cent by 2050, while Italy's will drop by 29 per cent). Conversely, many developing countries continue to experience population booms -- where will those of a working age find a working wage?

Given that economic growth rates in the wealthiest quartile of the world continue to outpace those in poorest countries (double the rate) the answer is clear: migrants will continue to be attracted to wealthy nations, as they have been since time immemorial.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in common with a groundswell of opinion, believes that migration and ageing are inextricably linked. At the meeting of European Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Berlin, immediately after the World Assembly on Ageing, we will seek to make this point more firmly by developing plans to assist migrants in being welcomed into communities and becoming part of the workforce. The only other option would be to put the retirement age up to 75 (or even higher in some countries according to the UN's Population Division.)

Currently, there is no international legal protection for migrants. Even the 1990 Convention on the Rights of Migrants and their Families was signed by only 19 states out of 20 needed for ratification. This is why the International Federation with its 178 member Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, should be involved.

We have a long history in assisting people across the world made vulnerable by disasters, poverty, disease etc. Our member organisations know the on-the-ground realities facing vulnerable people, particularly the elderly and have been there to help those who were displaced in post-Cold War Europe.

Our roots are in post-WW1 Europe when people, poverty and disease, moved swiftly over Europe.

Finally, the continued turning of a blind eye to migration issues is increasing tension, fuelling exploitation and placing already vulnerable migrants under even greater economic and psychological stress. People are often discriminated against because they are poor. They often remain poor because they are discriminated against, rather than being allowed to join the workforce and contribute to the future of an ageing society.

The International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent seeks to address all these inter linked themes - poverty, migration, ageing, discrimination - in a more vigorous way in the 21st century. Initiatives have already begun in Spain, the Philippines, Ukraine and Belarus, and these Red Cross Societies must be congratulated and others encouraged to follow in their footsteps.


* The author Robbie Thomson is Senior Officer for Population Movements at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Click here for more information on the The World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid and The European Red Cross Red Crescent Regional Conference in Berlin.