As staff shortages grow, a Munich startup is testing and training childlike AI companions designed to talk, remember and emotionally connect with the elderly — without ever losing patience.
Tag: elderly
People with dementia are often patronized and their movements restricted — like in prison, some say. Gammeloase, a retirement home in Germany does things very differently. For Germany’s Die Zeit, Anna Scheld asks whether this approach is sustainable and whether it could be replicated elsewhere.
Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person who has just passed away at age 117, once talked about the importance of socializing in old age. Even if the aging and elderly tend to wind up confined to family circles, studies have shown the often untapped benefits of friendship in our later years.
The complexity of danzón, a graceful and intricate dance, encourages a group of older adults to stimulate their minds, making it a key part of protecting their mental agility and memory.
Our Naples-based Dottoré gets mildly insulted by a well-meaning patient.
As the number of people over the age of 65 increases, some global brands are taking steps to reduce ageism in advertising, both for ethical and business motivations.
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The Benefits Of “Buongiorno”
Our Naples-based psychiatrist reflects on her morning walk to work, as she passes by people who simply want to see a friendly smile.
Women in Italy are living longer than ever. But severe economic and social inequality and loneliness mean that they urgently need a new model for community living – one that replaces the “one person, one house, one caregiver” narrative we have grown accustomed to.
The author is looking for a coming-of-age movie, but not the age you had in mind.
The pandemic has exposed longstanding inequalities and brought more people into a cycle of hunger and precariousness,
New research, which included 80 in-depth interviews with older people, found that a surprising number look down on their fellow seniors.
M.J. “Sunny” Eberhart just became the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail…at the ripe young age of 83. He is just one of many of the graying outdoor pioneers to set mind-boggling records that redefine staying power.
Despite being mocked on the campaign trail as ‘Sleepy Joe,’ Biden has had an energetic and productive first few months in office.
Are the lives of the youth impacted by coronavirus restrictions worth less than the extended lives of the elderly? This is the debate we must have when faced with the prospect of another lockdown.
Ageism at its most inhumane.
As life expectancy numbers rise, a growing number of seniors experience kodokushi (lonely death), as it’s known in Japan.
Older LGBT people have lived to see dramatic improvements in how society treats sexual minorities. But scars remain.
BEIJING — A video is making the rounds across China’s internet. On a bus in the western city of Xi’an, an elderly man is seen shouting at a pregnant woman that she should give up her seat. “I am an old person! Can’t you see?” His attitude was so appalling that commentators online came down […]
BEIJING — Over the past decade or so, “The Low-Fertility Trap,” a hypothesis put forth by Wolfgang Lutz, Vegard Skirbekk and Maria Rita Testa, respectively Austrian, Norwegian and Italian scholars, has worried many countries facing the risks of an aging population. This includes China. The theory suggests that when a country’s birth rate is lower […]
Countries like France and Spain, already known for their inhabitants’ longevity, needed three times as long as Brazil to double their percentage of older population.
Innovative television programming could be challenging the dominance of youth on television in Argentina and Brazil.
TURIN — Riding their bicycles along the banks of the Po river last Sunday, a university professor and his wife came upon a scene that caught their attention: A man and a woman, armed with shovel and spade, were busy digging out a bench, just before the Sassi bridge in central Turin, that had been […]
LAUSANNE — After living together for seven years, Guillaumette Sauvé and Pierre Boizot wed on June 30 in a civil ceremony in Lausanne. They are 62 and 59 respectively, and have both been married twice before. The bride didn’t wear white. And only a few friends were invited. “At first, we weren’t too excited by […]
With Europe’s lowest fertility rate, and some 20% of its 10.6 million inhabitants over the age of 65, Portugal is aging fast. Bad news for the country, but apparently a boon to criminals, who see the elderly as prime targets. Crime against senior citizens, financial scams in particular, has registered a sharp rise since the […]
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Germany Has A Big Old Demographic Problem
Germany is expected to lose more than 13 million inhabitants by 2060. Even when immigrants and higher birth rates are factored into the equation, Germany is growing too old too quickly. Only drastic political solutions, such as moving the retirement age u
As it faces an aging population, China has announced plans to raise its retirement age. But the better solution, and a clearly more urgent issue, is to encourage couples to have more children.
JAKARTA — In a suburban part of Jakarta, we’re walking down a dirt road up to a very small pink house at the end of an alley. There are chickens running around, and children playing. It’s here that Indonesia’s first retirement home for transsexual and transgender people — known as waria in Indonesia — is being built. In the doorway, two elderly transgenders whose teeth are missing call out “good morning.” Inside, Yulianus Rettoblaut peers into a mirror while a friend goes about the daily ritual of applying her heavy makeup — thick white foundation, fake eyelashes, bright red lipstick […]
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Retirement
Black-and-white photos suit the ruggedness of life in Northern Greece’s Pindus mountains. Back in 1961, it certainly didn’t occur to me that one day I would be as old as these men — and yet I have now been retired for 23 years. But it hasn’t meant bench-sitting for me!
In Suo-Oshima, nearly half the residents are over the age of 65. Increasingly, the city’s destiny looks to be a sign of what’s to come across a Japan that is aging far too fast.
Longer life expectancy is changing the demographics of our politicians. Wiser and less worried about reelection, the elderly are bound to make better leaders in our fast-moving society.
Protests are on in New Delhi demanding a bonafide old-age pension. Right now, most Indians don’t qualify for benefits, and those that do only get $4 a month.
‘Filial Piety,’ in which children were responsible for caring for the aged, was China’s ancient and efficient retirement system. Modern forces have slowly dismantled it over the past half-century.
The recent dual suicide of Bernard and Georgette Cazes at Paris’ landmark Lutetia Hotel is a symbolic nod to the right-to-die movement, but also a melancholic reminder of eternal love.
GUIPAVAS — In the Jacques Brel retirement home in Brittany’s town of Guipavas, Marcelle Plougoum looks at Jean-Noël Michel tenderly. They first met in a medical center for senior citizens, and have loved each other for three years in this modern residential community surrounded by gardens. “We stay together all the time,” Marcelle explains. “Being […]
In Japanese schools, parents come and talk about the upside of starting a family. The number of places in day care centers is being expanded; on the walls, posters show male celebrities touting the advantages of being a dad. In view of demographic change, the Asian archipelago nation is trying all it can to get […]
China’s amended “PRC Elderly Protection Law” has come into effect this month. The new law stipulates that family members cannot neglect the elderly, and are required to care for their spiritual needs. Family members who live separately from their aging parents must visit them regularly. Employers, likewise, must guarantee their workers the right to have […]
More and more elderly Chinese people are living far awar from their children, bringing the reality of aging “empty nesters” to the country. The social impact is huge.
-Essay- MUNICH – The day comes in life when you realize you don’t really need a car anymore, you can take the train, or bus. The problem is: you may not want to. It’s not as if retirement comes as a surprise, a sudden unexpected stroke of fate. We get a long time, many, many […]
LA VOIX DU NORD, AFP (France) Worldcrunch ROUBAIX- A 73-year-old French woman rang in the New Year in a supermarket in northern France after being locked in for the night. The elderly woman went into bathroom after feeling slightly dizzy, reported La Voix du Nord. When she came out, she found the supermarket empty – […]
BERLIN – The Tannhof, a wellness hotel in Germany’s Black Forest, is for adults only. So is the Ringhotel Dolce Vita in the Bavarian Forest. According to the Adults-Only-Holidays website, there are five hotels in Germany where children are not welcome. There are five such establishments in Austria, the UK and Turkey; four each in […]