NewsWHO: population aged 60 and over projected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050
The UN Decade midpoint report finds progress in ageing policy alongside persistent financing gaps in long-term care and data systems.
Event / data period: 2026-10-01
Published: · Updated:
IllustrationIn a midpoint report prepared for the UN General Assembly, WHO says the global population aged 60 and over passed 1 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050. The latter is a projection, not a future census count.
The report says the share of countries with legislation against age discrimination rose from 44.5% in 2018 to 57.7% in its current assessment. By contrast, the share reporting active multi-stakeholder forums on ageing fell from 53.1% in 2020 to 43.3% in the current assessment.
WHO reports that 33.8% of reporting countries have little or no dedicated long-term-care resources, while only 22.7% can track older people’s health over time. These indicators draw on country reporting and are separate from the global population projection.
Data
Population projection
Global population aged 60 and over.
- Population aged 60 and over (billions), threshold
- ≥1 billion
- 2020 · Estimate
- Projected population aged 60 and over
- 2.1 billion
- 2050 · Forecast
Methodology
The 2020 figure is a threshold (“passed 1 billion”); the 2050 value is a WHO projection.
Updated:
Subjects and places
Subject proposals
- healthSuggested
- Preserved editorial category/topic; broad candidate onlywww.who.int ↗docs.un.org ↗
- population and censusSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: populationwww.who.int ↗docs.un.org ↗