He explained that about five percent of the Iranian population was elderly in 1976, but now this figure has reached 10 percent.
“We will have the world’s highest elderly population growth in the future and this is a worrying issue, because we do not have the infrastructure necessary for this number of elderly people,” Delbari warned.
He touched on some of the problems that Iranian senior citizens are facing.
“We have a shortage, not only in the specialized category, but also at different levels and even in the trained associates for simple care and different geriatric fields,” Delbari explained.
The head of the Scientific Association of the Elderly said Iran with eight million senior citizens currently needs 2,200 specialists but has only 20 geriatricians.
He said that senior citizens in Iran have 5.5 children on average and usually receive proper support from most of them.
Delbari warned, however, that there are about 80,000 unmarried elderly people and the figure could reach 3 million in 30 years, and Iran will have to introduce a care force to take care of these people, and this is a serious danger that has to be planned for from now.
