Population

id21 natural resources highlights

rural livelihoods

C o m m u n i c a t i n g i n te r n a t i o n a l d e ve l o p m e n t r e s e a rc h 2005

In this issue

Ways to improve communication to assist rural development Inheritance rights and women in rural China Increasing women’s role in food security in Africa HIV/AIDS in rural Ethiopia Including farmers’ opinions in policy making

Ageing rural populations A blessing or a curse?

T

he increasing proportion of older people in the world is often seen as a success, the result of improving health conditions. However, older populations create new challenges, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. These can threaten efforts to promote development in rural areas and need to be addressed through appropriate policies. land effectively and cannot afford to hire Population ageing – the increase in the labour. This can reduce the agricultural proportion of ‘older people’ (those aged 60 productivity of an area, leading to food and over) – is happening across the globe, but insecurity and poor nutrition. Older people are occurring much faster in developing countries, discriminated against in terms of training and most of which have inadequate resources to are often less well educated. They are also deal with age-related problems. denied access rights to land, particularly older Population ageing is the outcome of lower women. fertility levels across the world (meaning the Whilst population ageing needs to be proportion of children is falling) and improving addressed everywhere, very few developing health conditions (meaning people live longer). countries have effective Many fatal diseases affect policies on ageing. Possible young people more than policy approaches include: old people, particularly Population ageing is occurring q enhancing traditional HIV/AIDS, contributing to much faster in developing systems of family support population ageing. The countries, most of which have for older people ageing...