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How to Reach Out to Older People
Statistics, stories, and ideas for creating strengthened intergenerational relationships
Did you know that in the UK, according to a 2018 survey, half of the young adults and middle-aged people have no friend over 70? Or that in 2018, Teresa May appointed a Minister of Loneliness?
There’s so much about old age we don’t think enough about, do we? I got to consider more of it reading Professor Anne Rose Kenny’s book Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life, which shares impactful statistic and stories about old age realities.
The intergenerational divide mentioned above is slightly better in other countries, such as Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland, but still worrisome. There, only a third of the younger population isolate past-70 seniors.
According to another statistic in the book, about two-thirds of people in the EU wish to work part-time in retirement. 48% of senior men and 60% of senior women were employed part-time in 2019. With this data in mind, the isolation of older people begins to make some sense.
But life is more than just work and surely older people like to volunteer, have hobbies, and engage in other activities?
