Aging involves biological changes but also reflects the accumulated effects of one’s exposure to external risks, such as poor diet, and can further be influenced by social changes, such as isolation and loss of loved ones.
2 Genetics are estimated to be responsible for about 25 percent of differences in health and function in old age, with other determining factors including aspects of the natural and physical environment such as air pollution and accessibility, risky behaviors such as smoking and inactivity, and individual characteristics such as occupation and level of income or education.
3 Moreover, these factors are often intertwined, such that individual characteristics among older persons may hold sway over other health determinants.
In other words, disparities in old age in health and other areas often reflect accumulated disadvantage, due to factors such as one’s location, gender, and socio-economic status, as well as to ageist attitudes and practices and too lacking or inadequate laws and policies—or their enforcement—that provide for equality and the rights to health and social security. In the context of rapid population aging, age-related inequalities take on greater urgency. Between 2015 and 2030, the number of people aged 60 and over is expected to increase from 901 million to 1.4 billion.
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