International Day for older person - Digital equity and other challenges.

                             International day of older person: History and Goals

Since 1990, UN has been celebrating October 1st as international day of older persons. The aim of celebrating this day is to highlight the problems faced by elderly in today's rapidly changing world.

It is a fact that with faster lives and nuclearization of family structure, the elder especially in developed countries and major cities of world have been left behind, alone and confused. The spurt in growth of old age homes is an indicator of abandonment of elderly. This age discrimination has been a target of UN and by celebrating October 1st as international day of older persons, UN is attempting to not merely highlight the issues faced by elders but to also invoke a thought-provoking discussion in a solution-oriented direction for those issues.
Keeping in view the rapid digitalization in past few years, this year's theme for this all-important day is "Digital equity for all ages".


Theme 2021 : Digital equity for all ages

It is true that in past few years, all government and private systems have rapidly turned digital. The rise of smartphones, cheap and high-speed internet and easy access to internet services even in far flung areas has led to rapid digitalization. Sadly, the elder have not been able to keep pace with this changing world. With spurt in digital payment system like UPI in India, the elder find themselves lacking in understanding and usage of such tech and are more commonly victims of financial cybercrimes. Those well over sixty are either not appropriately trained or not trained at all regarding usage of digital technology. This exposes them to manipulation and exploitation by cyber criminals. Elder are also more prone to data theft and breach of digital privacy due to these facts. A report by intentional telecommunication union in 2020 found digital literacy in elders as low as 19% in developing countries. This clearly shows that the issue faced by elderly is very harrowing. This lack of access to digital tech and even bigger lack of sufficient knowledge, the elderly have been left behind in terms of growth and this impacts achievement of sustainable development goals too as per a UN report.

COVID vaccination: an example of challenges faced by older people

The recent COVID pandemic has shown the vast negative impact of digital illiteracy. As per health workers who have been working in rural health sector since last 7 years, most COVID related services,  be it booking of COVID testing or bed allotment was relying on digital technology. The elderly especially in rural areas found this to be a major problem. Even with COVID vaccination where initially one had to book online slot for vaccination, the elderly found it impossible to get vaccinated. There was a lot of session site hand holding of elderly in this regard to take vaccination to every elderly villager.

Digital equity : The way forward

Like COVID vaccination, as most of everyday services have moved online. As a result, those digitally illiterate find it tough to avail these services.

Therefore, there is a need for think-tanks at government levels to get together and start programs to educate elderly to the maximum extent possible regarding use of digital technology.
There is also a huge need to make stricter cyber laws with additional sensibilities regarding cybercrimes against elderly.

The cybercrimes especially against older person need to be dealt strictly and, in a time, bound manner.


Notable examples

1. Canada : This year, a new Code of Conduct in Canada went into effect, directing institutions to fulfil the needs of older people while providing banking services.
2. Slovenia : A mobile banking vehicle offers face-to-face assistance to older people who want to use their phones or other digital devices to conduct online banking transactions.
3. Serbia: Red Cross prepared a step-by-step guide of select government e-services and provides doorstep hand holding training sessions to elderly.
4. India : Through use of govt approved CSC (Common service centres or Janseva Kendra), Indian government is providing easy access to e-services to elderly even at village level. These e- service centres are government monitored and thus reduce risk of elderly falling prey to cyber criminals.


The elderly are at an increased disadvantage when it comes to digital technology and digital literacy. Even in developed parts of world like European union, a survey in those above 75 years of age found only 20% were able to use internet. The challenge of making digital services easily available to everyone irrespective of age is a challenging task. It is not merely government's responsibility, but the youth too must step up to this challenge and help educate elderly around them in availing these digital services. These elders have been the ones who have built the foundation of growth on which the younger generation is building its dream palace. The knowledge and wisdom these elders have imparted us has helped us reach us where we are. It is therefore rightful that we provide them with knowledge they now need to survive in this digital world with dignity. The world must come together to find ways to show guide those who guided us when we were naive. The world must come together for ensuring digital equity and digital dignity for all ages. If we do not do that, we are going to lose immeasurable wisdom to our uncontrolled pace and sheer apathy. As of now this is the truth and Truth hurts.