Bogotá — The recent shocks to the Colombian economy caused by the pandemic, financial, food and energy crises have had deeper consequences for a large percentage of older adults, but the normalization of these has exacerbated the negative effects in this country, as in others, concluded a study by the Institute of Aging of the country’s Javeriana University.
The report warns that in the midst of this turbulence in the economy, a large percentage of older adults “have ‘naturalized’ certain conditions of precariousness and exclusion as part of their daily lives.”
“Colombia being a country with a broad legislation around the elderly, it needs to strengthen its implementation primarily in the provinces, ensuring inclusion and participation so that they [the government], and society in general, demand and monitor its implementation and its evaluation with indicators and established times,” the report states.
Colombia continues to be a hostile country for the elderly in the midst of the inequalities that are still present and are reflected in aspects such as access to pensions.
It is estimated that 14% of the Colombian population is currently over 60 years of age, and domestic occupations are their main activity.
The report, drawn up by Carlos Cano G., Ana María Medina, Ana María Lara, Violeta Rosa Avendaño M. and Cecilia de Santacruz, states that only 25.5% of older adults in Colombia receive a pension.
This situation means that older people have to extend their working life, leading them in many cases to informality and precarious salaries, which is more noticeable in rural areas.
The lack of access to a decent income also means that 1.8 million people aged 60 and over (28.4%) to live in monetary poverty.
The Institute for Aging compiled several official figures showing that in 2021, 23.1% of older adults received family or government monetary contributions, including social assistance and conditional transfers.
However, one of the latent problems identified in the report is that such transfers are interpreted in many cases not as a guarantee of their rights, but as charity, “which makes their enforceability difficult”.
In terms of housing, despite the fact that 60% of elderly people in urban areas live in their own homes and most of them had public services, “the payment of these services meant, in many cases, constant deprivation in aspects such as nutrition and health”.
And although almost all of these people are affiliated to the health system (half of them belong to the subsidized regime), there are barriers to access due to economic and mobility limitations.
This makes it difficult for them to access health services and medicines.
It is a risky situation, since it is estimated that 40% of them suffer from one or more chronic pathologies such as arterial hypertension, dental problems or diabetes.
In addition, 18.7% suffer from some degree of disability.
All these conditions are reinforced when this population faces other problems such as the perception of discrimination; insecurity and hostility; increases in transportation costs or the lack of digitalization that limits their access to goods and services (63.7% do not use the Internet).
It is also exacerbated when older adults have experienced violent situations or have grown up in contexts in which they have been exposed to them.
According to figures released by the Institute of Aging of the Javeriana University, more than one million people between 61 and 100 years of age are victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict.
According to Oxfam, Colombia is among the most unequal countries in Latin America.
It calculates that in the country “for every $100 of wealth created in the last 10 years, $45 has gone to the richest 1% and only $12.40 to the poorest 90%”.