The ombudsperson, MihailCotorbai: Currently the older persons are among the most vulnerable social categories. The State should ensure increased quality of the life of older people, so that they can live in dignity.
On the International Day of Older Persons, celebrated today, on October 1, the ombudsman, MihailCotorobai, calls out the human value, regardless of the age.
The ombudsman reasserts that the State must ensure increased quality of life for the older persons, along with other categories of persons, so that they can live in dignity. This is particularly important in times of financial crisis.
“A consolidated social security system is necessary, which would provide services, ensure proper living standards, and promote solidarity among the generations”, Mr. Cotorobai stated.
A global trend in the recent years has been the population ageing. This has affected Moldova as well, due to some social factors, such as the decrease of natality, migration of the active generation for finding better paid jobs and better living conditions, etc.
The ombudsperson has expressed his concern with the fact that, in 1988 Moldova reached a critical ageing coefficient (number of people aged over 60 per 100 citizens). If the current trends continue, by 2050 the older population will represent approximately 33% of the total number of population.
According to the data of the National House of social Insurance, on January 1, 2015, 669.9 thousand retired persons were registered with the social protection body, or 10.3 thousand more compared to the previous year. The average amount of the retirement pension on 01.01.2015 represented 1114.7 MDL, which covers83% of the average value of the cost of living for the retired persons (1343.7 lei).
Older people are a vulnerable social category in terms of their exposure to the poverty risk. According to the same source of information, the poverty rate for this category of population has represented 12.8%, exceeding the average for the country by 1.4 percent points. The highest poverty rate is among the rural older population, where about 17% of such people live in poverty, as compared to 7% in the urban areas.
In such conditions, the Ombudsman reiterates that the social impact of the recent increasing of the rates for utilities and the prices is catastrophic given thesmall incomes and social benefits of the population and its low consumption power. The ombudsman is worried about the fact that the chain price increases affect even more dramatically the living standards of the older people, which were at the poverty line even before the last price growth. In its annual reports, the Ombudsperson institution informed repeatedly about the fact that around 98% of the beneficiaries of pensions receive a pension that is lower than the cost of living.
On this occasion, the People’s Advocate encourages the competent authorities to strengthen their efforts to urgently identify levers for helping the population, particularly the socially vulnerable strata, in order to overcome this crisis situation and to avoid the deepening poverty as a result of such expenses.
It is alarming that the older people are currently one of the most vulnerable categories of the population. The specific problems faces by the older people are the expenses that differ from those of the rest of the population by: the cost of medicines, difficulties in paying the rates for utilities, and, in some situations, the lack of family support. Old people in general are dependent on the medical and social services, and solitary people are a particularly vulnerable category.
The International Day of Older Persons is celebrated every year on October 1st. This day was established by the United Nations Resolution No. 45/106/14.12.1990.
01.10.2015