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People in Greece aged over 65 years represent over 14% of the entire population. According to forecasts, in 2020 they will account for more than 20%, and in 2030 - nearly 30% of the population. This ageing of population characteristic of all western countries is due on the one hand to an increase in life expectancy and, on the other hand, to increasingly low birth rates. The ageing of population in Greece and across Europe as a whole causes many problems - medical, social, family, economic, social security, etc., which will reach dangerous levels in the coming decades.

According to the Explanatory Memorandum of the European Commission on the European Year for Active Ageing 2012 (COM (210) 462/06.09.2010) and based on data and forecasts of Eurostat, it is estimated that while now in the European Union (EU) the ratio is four people of working age (15-64 years) against a pensioner over 65 years, in 2060 there will be only two people of working age against each pensioner.

Greece ranks first among the EU member states in ageing population (the percentage increase was 21.4% in the period 2001-2006), while the EU average is 17.2%. Simultaneously, Greece and Italy report the lowest index of fertility (9 ‰) in the EU after Germany (8.4 ‰) and Portugal (8.5 ‰).

A consequence of ageing is the increase in the percentage of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic renal failure, chronic respiratory failure, dementia and other memory disorders, and various forms of cancer.

Third age in figures

• In Greece, people over 65 years represent 14% of the entire population of the country, and every five years this group increases by more than 100,000 people.

• 40% of elderly patients who are being treated in hospital have undergone surgery.

• Adults over 70 years represent 10% of the entire population, but occupy 50% of hospital beds and in particular 25% of beds for acute cases.

• People over 65 years account for 25% of the total number of days of hospitalization.

• 70% of elderly people have more than one concomitant disease.

• 25% of adults take more than five drugs.

• 150,000-200,000 patients in the country suffer from dementia, and because of the characteristics of this disease the corresponding number of families also suffer. For Europe, the total number of people suffering from dementia is 10 million and there are 44 million patients registered worldwide.

• Atrial fibrillation (a common form of cardiac arrhythmia characterized by irregular heart beat) occurs in 5% of people over 65 and in 10 percent of adults over 80 years and is a major cause of strokes caused by thromboembolism. In Greece there are over 500 cases of stroke every year.

• Most forms of cancer are diagnosed in adults. For example, 50% of malignancies in the United States are found in people over 65 years (NCI).

• 60% of deaths from cancer relate to people over 65 years.

• From 1968 to 1990, due to chemotherapy, deaths caused by various types of cancer (lymphoma, leukaemia, testicular cancer) decreased by 25% among people under 55 years, but mortality from these diseases among people over 65 years increased by 18%.

• The annual number of malignancies is increasing rapidly in the elderly over 65 years.

• 52% of all cases of cancer among women and 59% among men have been diagnosed in people over 65 years.

• Over 66% of deaths from cancer relate to patients over 65 years. Various forms of cancer are a major cause of deaths in the age group of 65-74 years and the second in people over 75 years.