Definition of an older person. Proposed working definition of an older person in Africa for the MDS Project.

Abstract

Most developed world countries have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of 'elderly' or older person, but like many westernized concepts, this does not adapt well to the situation in Africa. While this definition is somewhat arbitrary, it is many times associated with the age at which one can begin to receive pension benefits. Although there are commonly used definitions of old age, there is no general agreement on the age at which a person becomes old. The common use of a calendar age to mark the threshold of old age assumes equivalence with biological age, yet at the same time, it is generally accepted that these two are not necessarily synonymous. As far back as 1875, in Britain, the Friendly Societies Act, enacted the definition of old age as, "any age after 50", yet pension schemes mostly used age 60 or 65 years for eligibility (Roebuck, 1979). The UN has not adopted a standard criterion, but generally use 60+ years to refer to the older population (UN, 2001).

Full text

The Minimum Data Set (MDS) Project on Ageing and Older Adults
in sub-Saharan Africa
2001
Paul Kowal
J. Edward Dowd
2001
Definition of an older person. Proposed working definition of an older person in Africa
for the MDS Project

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Suggested citation: Kowal P, Dowd JE. Definition of an older person. Proposed working definition of an older
person in Africa for the MDS Project. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001.
Most developed world countries have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of 'elderly'
or older person, but like many westernized concepts, this does not adapt well to the situation in Africa.
While this definition is somewhat arbitrary, it is many times associated with the age at which one can begin
to receive pension benefits. At the moment, there is no United Nations standard numerical criterion, but the
UN agreed cutoff is 60+ years to refer to the older population.
Although there are commonly used definitions of old age, there is no general agreement on the age at which
a person becomes old. The common use of a calendar age to mark the threshold of old age assumes
equivalence with biological age, yet at the same time, it is generally accepted that these two are not
necessarily synonymous.
As far back as 1875, in Britain, the Friendly Societies Act, enacted the definition of old age as, "any age after
50", yet pension schemes mostly used age 60 or 65 years for eligibility (Roebuck, 1979). The UN has not
adopted a standard criterion, but generally use 60+ years to refer to the older population (UN, 2001).
Realistically, if a definition in Africa is to be developed, it should be either 50 or 55 years of age, but even this
is somewhat arbitrary and introduces additional problems of data comparability across nations. The more
traditional African definitions of an elder or 'elderly' person correlate with the chronological ages of 50 to 65
years, depending on the setting, the region and the country. Adding to the difficulty of establishing a
definition, actual birth dates are quite often unknown because many individuals in Africa do not have an
official record of their birth date. In addition, chronological or "official" definitions of ageing can differ widely
from traditional or community definitions of when a person is older. We will follow the lead of the
developed worlds, for better or worse, and use the pensionable age limit often used by governments to set a
standard for the definition.
Lacking an accepted and acceptable definition, in many instances the age at which a person became eligible
for statutory and occupational retirement pensions has become the default definition. The ages of 60 and 65
years are often used, despite its arbitrary nature, for which the origins and surrounding debates can be
followed from the end of the 1800's through the mid-1900's. (Thane, 1978 & 1989; Roebuck 1979) Adding to
the difficulty of establishing a definition, actual birth dates are quite often unknown because many
individuals in Africa do not have an official record of their birth date.
Defining old
"The ageing process is of course a biological reality which has its own dynamic, largely beyond human
control. However, it is also subject to the constructions by which each society makes sense of old age. In the
developed world, chronological time plays a paramount role. The age of 60 or 65, roughly equivalent to
retirement ages in most developed countries, is said to be the beginning of old age. In many parts of the
developing world, chronological time has little or no importance in the meaning of old age. Other socially
constructed meanings of age are more significant such as the roles assigned to older people; in some cases it
is the loss of roles accompanying physical decline which is significant in defining old age. Thus, in contrast to
the chronological milestones which mark life stages in the developed world, old age in many developing
countries is seen to begin at the point when active contribution is no longer possible." (Gorman, 2000)

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Age classification varied between countries and over time, reflecting in many instances the social class
differences or functional ability related to the workforce, but more often than not was a reflection of the
current political and economic situation. Many times the definition is linked to the retirement age, which in
some instances, was lower for women than men. This transition in livelihood became the basis for the
definition of old age which occurred between the ages of 45 and 55 years for women and between the ages
of 55 and 75 years for men. (Thane, 1978).
The MDS Project collaborators agreed at the 2000 Harare MDS Workshop to use the chronological age of 60
years as a guide for the working definition of "old"; however, this definition was revisited during this
meeting. Many felt this definition was not taking into account the real situation of older persons in
developing countries, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, upon further deliberation and discussion
during the 2001 Dar es Salaam MDS Meeting, the working definition of "older" or "old" for the purposes of
this project was changed to the age of 50 years (Kowal and Peachey, 2001). It is acknowledged that this is
also somewhat arbitrary and introduces additional problems of data comparability across nations, but it is
believed to be a better representation of the realistic working definition in Africa. A brief summary, mainly to
reflect the implications for ageing policy, of the reasons behind the decision to use this definition follows. A
full description is beyond the scope of this report, but will instead be presented in a forthcoming publication.
Categories of definitions
When attention was drawn to older populations in many developing countries, the definition of old age
many times followed the same path as that in more developed countries, that is, the government sets the
definition by stating a retirement age. Considering that a majority of old persons in sub-Saharan Africa live in
rural areas and work outside the formal sector, and thus expect no formal retirement or retirement benefits,
this imported logic seems quite illogical. Further, when this definition is applied to regions where relative life
expectancy is much lower and size of older populations is much smaller, the utility of this definition becomes
even more limited.
Study results published in 1980 provides a basis for a definition of old age in developing countries (Glascock,
1980). This international anthropological study was conducted in the late 1970's and included multiple areas
in Africa. Definitions fell into three main categories: 1) chronology; 2) change in social role (i.e. change in
work patterns, adult status of children and menopause); and 3) change in capabilities (i.e. invalid status,
senility and change in physical characteristics). Results from this cultural analysis of old age suggested that
change in social role is the predominant means of defining old age. When the preferred definition was
chronological, it was most often accompanied by an additional definition.
These results somewhat contradict the findings of a study conducted in Nigeria regarding perceptions about
the onset of old age (Togonu-Bikersteth, 1987 and 1988). Younger and older age groups had similar
responses regarding the chronological onset of old age, with differences in the stated age for men and
women. The results suggested that the generally accepted definition was similar to westernized definitions
of old age; however, this was a unique community with culture-related norms that bestowed certain
privileges and benefits at older ages. If one considers the self-definition of old age, that is old people defining
old age, as people enter older ages it seems their self-definitions of old age become decreasingly
multifaceted and increasingly related to health status (Brubaker, 1975, Johnson, 1976 and Freund, 1997).
While a single definition, such as chronological age or social/cultural/functional markers, is commonly used
by, amongst others, demographers, sociologists, anthropologists, economists and researchers, it seems

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more appropriate in Africa to use a combination of chronological, functional and social definitions. However,
the challenge of how to incorporate a suitable multidimensional definition into the "pensionable age"
concept remains. It was felt that by using age 50 years, this project will be indirectly incorporating these
other definitions.
For this project, we will use 50 years of age and older as the general definition of an older person. We feel
these data are necessary to fully inform policy makers and programme planners. The accumulated evidence
and resulting information will be able to more accurately determine the health status of the older
population. For more detail, see the references and contacts listed below. A full discussion paper on the
topic will be available.
Acknowledgements
The paper is based on, Defining “Old Age”, a commissioned paper drafted by Andreas Sagner. The US
National Institute on Aging, Division of Behavioral and Social Research supported the MDS Project.
Marybeth Weinberger provided important historical information from the United Nations Population
Division.
References
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