With the country’s fertility rate falling to a record low 1.7 children per woman, as announced in April this year by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the government should focus attention on helping extend the productive life of senior citizens, whose ranks keep growing.
The PSA has pointed out that the 1.7 fertility rate was down from the replacement level of 2.1 needed for maintaining a stable population.
Other countries are seeing the consequences of this development, with younger generations eschewing having children or else limiting the number to just one or two. A shrinking labor pool also means fewer minds for innovation and the needed human inputs for competitiveness, economic growth and national development.
October opened with Senior Citizens Week in this country where people age 60 and older already enjoy perks such as discounts and exemptions from value-added tax, priority access and exclusive public toilets. The annual budget for the pensions of military and other uniformed personnel has ballooned so much that a former finance secretary had warned of fiscal collapse. This pension perk, however, is not considered a genuine manifestation of official concern for the elderly, but a means to buy MUP loyalty.
Beyond retirement pensions – and those for the private sector are far lower than for the privileged MUP – there are people who want to remain financially independent and productive as they advance in age. There are also seniors particularly in underprivileged households who want to continue contributing to the family income. Empowering senior citizens to do so should be the next mission of elderly welfare advocates.
Thanks to medical advances and generally improved nutrition and health care, the average life expectancy in the Philippines has steadily increased, standing at about 72 years in 2026, based on United Nations and other global trend data.
People are living longer and healthier, but there are few opportunities for them to continue being productive citizens.
So-called super-aged countries – those with over 20 percent of the population aged 65 and older, among them Japan, Sweden and Norway – are leading in developing programs for active aging. These include laws requiring the provision of employment opportunities for the elderly as well as centers where seniors are assisted in getting part-time, low-intensity work so they can remain active and self-reliant in advanced age. There are policies for providing upskilling, to help the elderly productively utilize digital technology.
Even the World Economic Forum has stressed that a rapidly aging global population and shrinking human resources make elderly empowerment an economic necessity.
It’s not enough to live longer. People want to live a long, reasonably healthy and economically productive life.