The aging of man and society

The author takes the main themes of an International Colloquium held in Toulouse on 15 June 1984 as a starting point to present some reflections on aging. In particular the need for aged societies to face important problems regarding dynamism is stressed, in order to maintain a confrontation with other, younger, societies and to provide people with the same levels of welfare. Moreover, in the future, towns will be more compact with less space so that within a limited environment the elderly individual--whose degree of mobility is ever-decreasing--can carry out his daily activities independently and with ease. From now on, collective savings--adequately invested in production--can assure economic development and a pension system worthy of a progressively aging society.