Turkey becomes first country to establish International Aging and Development Center

Turkey has founded International Aging and Development Center to become the leading country in aging, in the world. Thanks to said project realized on 19 September 2019, Turkey aims to be a hub for aging in the international arena.

Turkey ranks 66th among 167 countries in the list for elderly population ratio, world-wide. On the other hand the experts forecast the share of the elderly population in the total population in this country will reach 20.8 percent by 2050.

Earlier, the United Nations had declared October 1 “World Elderly Day” in 1990, to promote and expand health care for the elderly. Meanwhile, it is estimated that 2 billion of the world’s population will be constituted by the elderly in 2050.

Despite Turkey is a country where the majority of the population is young, it is expected that the ratio of old population will reach 10 percent of the total by 2020. Experts comment that one of the most important points here is to make older individuals more active.

Turkey has been conducting various activities in the national and international arenas for 25 years. Consequently, the authority has decided to become the leading country in the world in the aging area and realized the International Aging and Development Center (ICAD-International Center for Aging and Development) which is said to be the first in the world.

The center targets following achievements:

The health transformation program implemented in Turkey has increased the life expectancy by 3-5 years in the country. Turkey targets to introduce this transformation to the world and become the leading country in said area.

ICAD this transformation in the world to introduce old age in Turkey will work to make the country a leader in the world.

Turkey will prepare and publish aging reports for Turkey and other countries annually. It will also conduct studies to develop universal standards of care. Under the slogan “There is no retirement from life” it will target to ensure the whole world becomes aware of this initiative.

The Center will also work in collaboration with public, academia, private sector, civil society and media for the World Aging Congress and EXPO in 2020.