According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) In all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the proportion and absolute number of people aged 60 and over will increase steadily in the coming decades.
In the specific case of the Dominican Republic, it currently has a relatively young population, but is experiencing a constant aging process and therefore the number of people over 65 years of age has doubled in the last two decades, according to the 2022 National Housing Population Census.
“The base of the elderly is expanding and shrinking from birth, this is the European phenomenon where the population of young people is getting narrower every day, and that of older adults is getting wider, so that there is no longer a pyramid, but a vertical rectangle,” is the argument of the executive director of the National Council for the Elderly (Conape), Dr. José García Ramírez.
To put this perspective into context, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) states that in the country in 2000, 407,000 people were 65 years of age or older, representing 4.8% of an estimated population of 10.8 million people; in 2020 this number doubled to 816,000 people in that age group, 7.5% of the population, and the forecast is that it will reach more than two million by 2050, or 16%.
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Challenges and perspectives
Faced with this demographic challenge that will mean having more elderly people with higher levels of dependency and fragility, I ask Dr. García about what public policies are being implemented to address this situation? “First, to strengthen the achievements we have obtained during these four years; trying to reduce the vulnerability of the elderly as much as possible, that means improving the housing, economic, social security, and environmental situation and guaranteeing solid services to the elderly throughout the country.”
Secondly, there is a need for more staff to care for the elderly. “The country is demanding the training of more geriatricians, psychologists and psychiatrists. They are much-needed specialists, but they are in very short supply at the national level.”
In addition, expand social programs and a larger budget.
One nursing home and one day care home for each municipality
According to the executive director of Conape, another of the measures being implemented is the creation of the national network of nursing homes and day care homes with the aim of having an interconnection from Elías Piña to Cabo Engaño and in this way having all the services for the elderly electronically registered and controlled, and that will logically include the construction of nursing homes and new day care homes in almost the entire country. “We are working on the creation of a network of nursing homes and homes for community services at the national level; that is one of the main policies that President Abinader has proposed for the 2024-2028 period.”
How many households do you currently have?
38, but in addition to these day homes, which are run by Conape, we have the Non-Profit Daytime Associations (ASFL), which are around 60 throughout the country, to which we provide budgetary support and maintain a relationship of program agreements.
The professor also said that they have a joint management with the nursing homes. “The regulations establish that the administrative management is the responsibility of the nursing homes and we provide them with a significant budget.”
How many nursing homes and homes does the country need?
We need 32 nursing homes to cover the entire country and 155 day care homes so that every municipality in the country has this service.
Recently, Conape presented the book “History of Dominican Asylums” in which the work done by nuns is praised. “The nuns are the true heroines of this process, who have been providing services to Dominican adults for more than 100 years without ever having to pay a fee. We are clearly in the presence of true female heroes of this process.”
Older adults in numbers:
The X National Population and Housing Census of 2022 records that 9.3% of the population was over 65 years of age, this means that of the 10,773,983 inhabitants, 1,001,980 were in the range of over 65 years, and it seems that the population of older adults will continue to increase; The projection is that by 2025, the country will have a population over 60 years of age of 1,359,145, while those over 70 years of age will be 591,303; Given this average, the Dominican Geriatrics Society has only 124 geriatricians to meet such a high demand for the elderly.
