A hidden epidemic: the use of drugs among older persons

Abstract

3. According to the United Nations, there were 703 million persons aged 65 or over in the world in 2019. That number is projected to double, to 1.5 billion, by 2050. Globally, the share of the population aged 65 years or over increased from 6 per cent in 1990 to 9 per cent in 2019. That proportion is projected to rise further and, by 2050, it is expected that 16 per cent of the global population, or one in six people, will be aged 65 or over.1 In 2018, it was projected that, in 2020, the number of people over the age of 60 would be greater than the number of children under the age of 5, for the first time ever.2