ABSTRACT
According to the United Nations’ definition, an older person is a person aged 60 or older (United Nations Population Fund and HelpAge International, 2012). The worldwide proportion of this group of people is growing considerably: while in 1990 older people formed a 9.2 percent share globally, by 2013 the percentage had increased to 11.7 percent, with projections predicting 21.1 percent by 2050 (UNDESA 2013). The effects of population aging are already quite visible in some countries, while other countries will face the highest ratio at some point in the future. For example, countries such as Peru will undergo a phase with a demographic dividend 1 in the near future (INEI 2009). The topics of demographic change on societal levels and aging on an individual level are now discussed extensively in politics and science. Additionally, they have gained more and more importance in international development (Lloyd-Sherlock 2011).
