1 October marks the International Day of Older Persons, designated by the UN General Assembly in December 1990. The theme for this year's event focuses on the challenges and opportunities of ageing.

Statistics indicate that some 80 per cent of the world’s population are not covered by social protection in old age, yet other numbers show that life expectancy is rising in all parts of the world due to improved standards of health care.

These developments, according to the World Health Organisation, are naturally altering the role older persons play in society “through volunteer work, transmitting experience and knowledge, helping their families with caring responsibilities and increasing their participation in the paid labour force”.

These trends have become particularly evident in African countries, where millions of adult HIV/AIDS patients are being cared for by their parents, and where the children left behind (currently some 14 million under the age of 15) are mainly nurtured by their grandparents.

In his statement for the day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that the meaning of being old was constantly changing and that, while “older persons were sometimes seen as a burden on society, they are now increasingly recognised as an asset that can and should be tapped”.

This year also marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Madrid Plan on ageing which seeks to address and improve the role and participation of older persons in wider society.

Click here to view the Secretary-General's statement in full.