Concepts of old age

The relative share and the absolute number of elderly citizens of the world community is growing rapidly, and the problems of aging and old age are becoming global. At the same time, aging is understood as a process, and old age as its result. The aging process is characteristic both for the individual in his transition from the middle to the older age cohort, and for society as a whole (its demographic, social and political structures).
Old age is the final period in the development of any organism, for a person it is a genetically defined acquisition of a certain personal social status. Aging, like any process, has several stages. (On aging of the society a little later detailed considerations.)
The World Health Organization identifies three horological periods: from 60 to 74 years old - recognized as elderly, from 75 to 89 years old - aged, from 90 years old and older - long-term residents. We believe that aging has a specific historical nature and there can be no global standard, periodization should be correlated with the average life expectancy in a particular country. Agreeing with the very principle of the three-stage division, we believe that in our country, given the lower levels of average duration, the upper values ​​of each of the stages should be lowered. According to the Population Division and the UN Statistical Office and the national statistical authorities, the average life expectancy in Europe (1997) was 71 years for men, 79 years for women, 64 and 68 in the world, respectively, 58 in Russia and 72. According to our calculations, the following gradation is acceptable for Russia: elderly people (60-69 years old), old people (70-84 years old), long-livers (85 years old and older). Moreover, in our opinion, there are no grounds for dividing these boundaries by gender. The tradition established in our country in statistical collections, the assignment of women older than 55 to the cohort of the elderly, except for legal grounds (the appointment of a pension), has no other arguments. The lower age limit of old age (60 years) is constantly shifted upward under the influence of socio-economic, scientific, practical and cultural factors.