In the year 1990, there were more than 280 million people belonging to the age 60 years or over in developing regions of the world, and 58% of the world’s elderly were living in less-developed regions. The percentage of elderly in developing countries tends to be small, although numbers are often large. The term ‘Elderly’ is applied to those individuals belonging to age 60 years and above, who represent the fastest growing segment of populations throughout the world. In this chapter, you understand the details of ageing processes and associated physiological changes. In most of the developed countries, the age of 60 is considered equivalent to retirement age and it is said to be the beginning of old age. However, this process of ageing is also subject to the constructions by which each society makes sense of old age. It has its own dynamics, much beyond human control. According to World Health Organization, ageing is a course of biological reality which starts at conception and ends with death. Slow and steady physical impairment and functional disability are noticed resulting in increased dependency in the period of old age. Even the healthiest, aesthetically fit cannot escape these changes. Middle age is the time when people notice the age-related changes like greying of hair, wrinkled skin and a fair amount of physical decline. These changes start from birth-one grows, develops and attains maturity. In the broader sense, ageing reflects all the changes taking place over the course of life. Everyone must undergo this phase of life at his or her own time and pace.
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