Thirty years of the United Nations and global ageing: an Australian perspective

Over the past three decades, the United Nations (UN) has slowly devoted increasing attention to global ageing. Concern for individually based welfare or health-care programs for older people in developed countries has progressed to also consider the contributions of older people and implications of ageing for socioeconomic advancement in developing countries, including those in Asia Oceania. These shifts are evident in the International Plans of Action on Ageing from Vienna in 1982 to Madrid in 2002; recent 10-year reviews of the Madrid Plan; and current advocacy for inclusion of ageing in the influential UN Millennium Plan post-2015. Australia has demonstrated progressive policies and contributed to ageing developments by the UN, International Federation on Ageing the World Health Organization and the International Association of Gerontology. Key ideas driving further action are the importance of valuing people at all ages, addressing inequalities over the life-course and implementing human rights approaches to ageing.