Thirty years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, older women remain insufficiently visible in global gender equality discussions, according to this UN DESA policy brief. Drawing on the World Population Prospects 2024 and related datasets, the brief examines the demographic and policy implications of an ageing world through a gender lens.
Women already make up the majority of older persons globally, and their numbers particularly those aged 80 and older, are projected to rise sharply, especially in low- and middle-income countries. While women live longer than men on average, they are more likely to experience disability, chronic illness, and economic insecurity in later life, and more likely to live alone or in skip-generation households while carrying ongoing caregiving responsibilities.
The brief traces this vulnerability to lifelong gender inequalities—lower earnings, unpaid care work, and limited access to contributory pensions—that compound into greater financial precarity for older women. It argues that gender-responsive policies integrating a life-course perspective into social protection, health systems, labour markets, and care policy are essential to ensure dignity, equality, and full participation in older age. The brief is timed to the UN Commission on the Status of Women's 2026 session, whose focus area is "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all older women."
