I Fear Ageing in Africa: Growing Old Without Dignity or Support
Welcome back, my ever-returning Compadres,
Ageing is generally regarded as a blessing both in religious and non-religious paradigms. However, as strange as this may sound, I fear ageing in Africa, especially in situations where one grows old without dignity and support. In this blog, I present some of the challenges our senior citizens encounter across the African continent and suggest ways to mitigate them, to accord the senior citizen the honour and dignity due to them. Read on as I write!
Understanding Africa's Demographic Shift
The world’s population is ageing at an unprecedented rate, and Africa—often perceived as the world’s youngest continent—is no exception. While older people are making up an increasing proportion of populations in almost every nation, the rapid demographic transition occurring across African developing countries presents unique and urgent challenges. This shift impacts nearly every facet of society, including family structures, intergenerational relationships, labour markets, financial systems, and the demand for essential services such as housing, transportation, healthcare, and social protection.
Between 2017 and 2050, virtually every African nation is expected to experience a substantial increase in the population aged 60 years and above (United Nations, 2017). Yet, the harsh reality is that most developing countries across the continent—from Ghana to Kenya, from Tanzania to Nigeria—remain woefully unprepared for this demographic transformation. The consequences of this unpreparedness threaten not only the well-being of elderly citizens but also the broader socioeconomic development outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those addressing poverty eradication, health promotion, gender equality, employment, and reducing inequality within and between nations.
The Intersection of Ageing and Poverty in Developing Africa
What makes population ageing particularly concerning in developing countries in Africa is the overwhelming prevalence of poverty among the elderly. As populations age due to declining fertility and mortality rates, increasing numbers of people across the continent are growing old without adequate support systems, infrastructure, services, or information. In essence, they are ageing in poverty—a crisis that demands immediate policy intervention and societal transformation (Heslop & Gorman, 2011).
The demands and behaviours of people aged 60 and above differ significantly from those of younger generations. Older individuals typically work less and save less, which reduces labour force participation and decreases capital availability in national economies. Furthermore, elderly populations require substantially more medical attention, yet healthcare systems across African developing nations lack the specialised geriatric infrastructure necessary to meet these needs. Many countries also depend heavily on contributions from working-age populations to fund social pensions, creating a precarious situation as dependency ratios shift unfavourably.
The Economic Ramifications
Economic ramifications extend beyond individual welfare. The rise in ageing populations is expected to dramatically affect public expenditure patterns and consequently, economic growth trajectories. Research indicates that when countries face increases in elderly populations, public spending inevitably shifts toward social security expenses and medical systems, often at the expense of investments in education and other developmental priorities (Gonzalez-Eiras & Niepelt, 2012; Lisenkova et al., 2012). Additionally, the decline in working-age populations coupled with growth in elderly demographics results in reduced tax revenues, creating fiscal pressures that many African economies are ill-equipped to manage (Bloom et al., 2013.).
The Exclusion Crisis: How African Societies Fail Their Elders
Arguably, the most troubling aspect of Africa’s ageing challenge is the profound lack of social inclusion for senior citizens. Across the continent, societies have failed to create environments where elderly people can live with dignity, security, and meaningful participation in community life. This exclusion manifests in multiple, interconnected ways.
In many African communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, elderly people face severe food insecurity. Families often leave older relatives at home to fend for themselves, without adequate provisions or support. This abandonment reflects broader societal attitudes that devalue elderly contributions and overlook their fundamental needs. The expectation that older people should be self-sufficient despite diminished physical capacity and economic resources represents a cruel form of structural violence against vulnerable populations.
Healthcare Inadequacy and Medical Neglect
Healthcare systems across African developing countries are critically unprepared for ageing populations. There is a severe shortage of geriatricians and specialised geriatric care facilities throughout the continent. Elderly patients are predominantly treated by general practitioners who, despite their best intentions, may lack the specific expertise required to address the complex, multifaceted health challenges associated with ageing. Chronic conditions, cognitive decline, mobility issues, and medication management all require specialised knowledge that remains scarce in most African healthcare settings.
This medical inadequacy doesn’t merely represent a gap in service provision—it constitutes a form of systemic exclusion that denies elderly citizens their fundamental right to appropriate healthcare. When societies fail to invest in geriatric medicine and age-appropriate healthcare infrastructure, they send a clear message about the perceived value of their oldest members.
Social Stigmatization and Violence Against the Elderly
One of the most disturbing manifestations of exclusion facing elderly Africans is the epidemic of witchcraft accusations, particularly targeting older women. Across numerous African countries—including Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria—accusations of witchcraft follow a distressingly consistent pattern. Victims are predominantly isolated, single older persons, with widowed women being especially vulnerable.
Research in regions such as Magu in Northern Tanzania reveals that women face disproportionate vulnerability to such accusations, which in extreme circumstances lead to family banishment or even death (Kabinga, 2000). The underlying causes of these accusations are often rooted in property conflicts, where removing elderly persons expedites the occupation of land and assets by other family members. In societies where widowed women lose property rights upon their husband’s death, many find themselves isolated and defensively vulnerable to these dangerous allegations.
Not Superstition, But Calculated Abuse
This phenomenon represents not merely superstition but a calculated form of elder abuse enabled by societies that have failed to protect the rights and dignity of their oldest members.
As elderly populations grow across Africa, more people will face this inhuman treatment unless urgent interventions address both the cultural attitudes and legal frameworks that permit such violence.
Spiritual Neglect and Loss of Dignity
As people age, many find that their priorities shift toward spiritual fulfilment and legacy-building. For countless elderly Africans, faith communities represent vital sources of meaning, connection, and comfort. Yet religious institutions across the continent have largely failed to accommodate the specific needs of growing elderly populations.
Churches, mosques, and other places of worship often lack accessible infrastructure, appropriate programming, or opportunities for meaningful participation by older congregants. This spiritual neglect compounds other forms of exclusion, leaving many elderly people to face their final years without the sense of purpose and community connection that could provide solace. The failure of faith communities to adapt to demographic realities represents a missed opportunity for social inclusion and a tragedy for individual elderly people who die experiencing profound isolation and spiritual unfulfillment.
Economic Exclusion and the Erosion of Family Support
Traditionally, African societies relied on extended family structures to provide material, physical, and emotional support for elderly members. However, this traditional safety net is rapidly eroding under multiple pressures. Decreasing natural resources, international market competition, urbanisation, and labour migration have seriously undermined families’ capacity to sustain their caregiving functions (Hermalin et al., 2007).
Moreover, young people increasingly migrate to urban centres or abroad in search of economic opportunities, leaving elderly relatives behind in rural communities without adequate support. Meanwhile, financial hardship in poor communities means that even willing family members often lack the resources to provide appropriate care for ageing relatives. This breakdown of traditional support systems occurs precisely as formal social protection schemes remain inadequate or entirely absent across much of the continent (Heslop & Gorman, 2011).
Economic Exclusion that traps the elderly in poverty
The result is economic exclusion that traps elderly Africans in poverty. Without pensions, savings, or family support, many older people lack basic economic security and must continue working in physically demanding occupations well beyond the point of safety or dignity.
Others become entirely dependent on charity or community goodwill—an unstable and humiliating position for people who spent their productive years contributing to family and community wellbeing.
The Policy Imperative: Building Inclusive Societies for All Ages
The ageing of Africa’s population presents not merely a challenge but an opportunity to build more inclusive, equitable societies that value citizens across the entire life course. However, realising this opportunity requires comprehensive policy interventions across multiple domains. Some of these are discusssed below.
1. Strengthening Social Protection Systems
African governments must prioritise the development of universal social protection schemes that guarantee basic economic security for elderly citizens. This includes establishing or expanding pension systems, developing targeted cash transfer programs for vulnerable elderly populations, and ensuring access to subsidised healthcare. These investments are not charitable expenditures but rather necessary infrastructure for demographic transitions already underway.
2. Investing in Geriatric Healthcare Infrastructure
Healthcare systems must be transformed to meet the specific needs of ageing populations. This requires training and deploying geriatricians and gerontological specialists, establishing specialised care facilities, integrating age-appropriate protocols into primary healthcare, and ensuring affordable access to medications and treatments for chronic conditions common in elderly populations.
3. Legal Protections and Human Rights Enforcement
Robust legal frameworks must be established and enforced to protect elderly people from abuse, exploitation, and property seizure. This includes laws specifically addressing elder abuse, witchcraft accusations, and property rights for widows. Beyond legislation, awareness campaigns and community education are essential to shift cultural attitudes and combat the stigmatisation of elderly people.
4. Creating Age-Inclusive Communities
Physical and social infrastructure must be redesigned with accessibility and inclusion as core principles. This means accessible public transportation, age-friendly public spaces, community programs that facilitate intergenerational connection, and opportunities for elderly people to contribute their knowledge and experience to community development.
5. Mobilising Faith and Civil Society Organisations
Religious institutions and civil society organisations must recognise their responsibility to elderly populations and adapt their programming accordingly. This includes creating accessible worship spaces, developing spiritual programming tailored to the needs of the elderly, and facilitating opportunities for older people to mentor younger generations and maintain meaningful social connections.
The Path Forward: Urgency and Hope
Population ageing in African developing countries is not a distant future concern—it is an emerging reality that demands immediate action. The projected surge in elderly populations over the coming decades will be catastrophic if current trends of exclusion and neglect continue. Elderly Africans will increasingly face hunger, inadequate medical care, social humiliation, abuse, and violence.
However, this demographic transition also presents an opportunity to build societies that truly honour the principle of leaving no one behind. By recognising the dignity and rights of elderly citizens, investing in inclusive infrastructure and services, and transforming cultural attitudes that devalue ageing, African nations can turn this challenge into a foundation for more equitable development.
An Important Question to Grapple With
The question facing policymakers, civil society, faith communities, and ordinary citizens across Africa is straightforward: Will we prepare for the demographic future already arriving, or will we continue to exclude and abandon the generation that laid the foundations of our current societies? The answer to this question will reveal not only our policy priorities but our deepest values about human dignity, social solidarity, and what it truly means to build inclusive nations where every person, at every age, can live with security, dignity, and hope.
The time for action is now. The elderly citizens of Africa have waited long enough for the inclusion and respect they have always deserved.
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References
Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Fink, G. (2013.). Program on the Global Demography of Aging: Population Aging and Economic Growth. Retrieved from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pgda/working.htm
Gonzalez-Eiras, M., & Niepelt, D. (2012). Ageing, government budgets, retirement, and growth. European Economic Review, 56(1), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2011.05.007
Hermalin, A. I., Ofstedal, M. B., & Tesfai, R. (2007). Future characteristics of the elderly in developing countries and their implications for policy. Asian Population Studies, 3(1), 5–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730701270798
Heslop, A., & Gorman, M. (2011). Chronic poverty and older people in the developing world. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1754499
Kabinga, F. (2000). Older people in Magu, Tanzania: The killing and victimisation of older women. HelpAge International.
Lisenkova, K., Mérette, M., & Wright, R. (2012). The impact of population ageing on the labour market: Evidence from overlapping generations computable general equilibrium (OLG-CGE) model of Scotland. Discussion Paper in Economics, Strathclyde, 12–13.
United Nations. (2017). World population ageing 2017.
Zhong, H. (2011). The impact of population aging on income inequality in developing countries: Evidence from rural China. China Economic Review, 22(1), 98–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2010.09.003
Kelvin Barfour
I’ve read different articles about this subject due to my inquisitional interest as a community leader who has a strong ties to Africa. This particular article is outstanding and needs a big screen presentation at the United Nations conference. Please share this great piece on every platform you can.
To the great researcher Pastor Samuel Daniels, well done for such a great piece of work.