Filenews 5 May 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
Cyprus in the decade 2014-2024 recorded one of the highest rates of increase in the average age in the European Union, with the percentage of children under the age of 15 recording a decrease and the percentage of people over 65 increasing year on year.
For the sake of truth, and according to the latest published official data, at the end of 2023, the percentage of children under the age of 15 stood at 15.3% in 2023 (22.3% in 2000) and the percentage of people aged 65 and over rose to 17.7%, compared to 11.3% in 2000.
The ageing population in Cyprus is a given and "if we do not take our measures in time, in a decade at most we will be running behind the many problems that will arise for us", stressed, speaking to "F", the president of the National Bioethics Committee, Konstantinos Fellas. Already, he said, "we have started to see some of these problems and we are realizing that we are completely unprepared for the future. For example, we are already seeing problems coming to light every day that arise from the lack of care structures for our elderly after their hospitalization, from the lack of an organized system of home health services for people who cannot easily move to and from hospitals or health centers.
Very recently we have seen the organized patients fighting even for a bus route to operate that will make it easier for elderly people of mountainous Nicosia to go to the hospital and after all this, which in itself demonstrates the exclusion and entrapment of the elderly, we have the first large group of elderly drivers. And we are trying to find ways to manage them by arriving, for the time being, on racist solutions, on horizontal measures that are dangerous for the health and well-being of these people, on decisions that in the end will create additional problems for us."
This group of elderly drivers, Mr. Fellas explained, "is in essence the first large generation of people in Cyprus who drove vehicles. And the questions begin: Should we take their driver's license and lock them at home? Should we increase their insurance premiums in order to force them to stop driving? Because, the premiums in relation to most pensions are probably disproportionately high. Should we let them continue to drive, possibly endangering themselves and the rest of the people who traffic on the roads, in some cases and not in all? Should we force them to travel by bus? Do we have an organized transport system? Can what we have serve their needs? What will it mean for the children of these people and their own families to have to take their parents or grandparents anywhere at any time? And if they don't have the ability to do so? Are we going to exclude, are we going to trap a portion of our population? And if we decide this, what will happen to depression, loneliness and all the consequent social and health problems?"
"No answer can be vertical and absolute when we talk about people. Preventive premiums are a measure that certainly constitutes age racism. The ban on having a driver's license as well. Age racism doesn't just affect the emotions of the elderly, it affects their physical health, their cognitive skills, their well-being."
At the same time, and according to various researches, "age racism is associated with cardiovascular events, with physical function, with Alzheimer's disease, with mental illnesses and certainly with depression and all its consequences and its effects on health. Very recently we have seen EU statistics on the high rates of loneliness and depression in Cyprus."
Finally, "let's not forget the abuse. Leaving our elderly confined to a home with a caregiver who has no emotional connection with them, locking people up at home and them eating away from loneliness and depression, increases the chances of abuse and abuse is not only physical. It is psychological, verbal, it is oppression, etc. Neglect is also abuse."
According to the World Health Organization, "one in six people over 60 suffer from abuse, however, only 4% of cases are recorded. We do not have an effective and systematic data collection in Cyprus, so we do not even have a complete picture. Also, we do not have special spaces/clinics in Cyprus that can accommodate these people, for example, in the case of a person who has been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, it is necessary to determine the cause. We have it for the children, we have it for the women, but our elderly don't."
"It's time to make serious and correct decisions for our population"
"Age cannot and should not be the only criterion for premiums to go up or for a person to leave the wheel. We need to find other, individualized ways to manage the situation. According to complaints, which have reached us, elderly people have been rejected by insurance companies based only on their age. Let them proceed to an individualized evaluation. Horizontal measures are almost never correct and effective."
"Many cite the reduced reflexes of people of one age and older. We cannot dispute that. But let's also look at the data. From our own investigation, we found that in 2023, in most serious road accidents, the elderly people who were involved were either passengers or pedestrians. So, rather, we need to find another way of evaluating. There are elderly people who can't drive and most of them don't drive, but there are also those who have the ability to drive safely. For those who do not realise that they cannot drive, then again we must take care of it as a state. Have we done anything so that a person does not feel that when he passes an age limit he will fall into withering and be trapped in his home? Do we have means of transport accessible and with the necessary facilities and routes? Do we have programs of various activities? Have we made sure that people in Cyprus develop this culture?"
"The time has come to make serious and correct decisions for our population. Other groups of elderly people followed. When we are young and we can, we don't take these things into account. When we turn 70 or over, we begin to understand. Let's not wait, all of us who decide today, to reach 70 in order to understand".
