Mr. Justin Moran:

In many cases the reason for that is that the community, the family and the group step in to replace the lack of a state. I briefly touched on the point earlier that in many countries there is no state pension. When there is no income like that, people step in to look after older people, take care of them and support them. That can have its own negative aspects, whereby the older person is just seen as a burden. People think they have to care for them because the state is not there. What we need is an approach that sees older people not as a burden, vulnerable or dependent but as people in their own right, and which approach enables them to continue to participate in their community, whatever kind of community that might be.