By Sergio Solache - USA TODAY
MEXICO CITY Long known for big families with numerous children Mexico is going gray.
The population 60 and older is growing twice as fast as in the United States as life expectancy climbs and birth rates drop. And new programs from a Senior University to free Viagra are being set up to cater to them.
We are getting older as a country said Alejandro Orozco director of Mexicos National Institute for Older Adults. Were going to have many more seniors in the population and were going to be living much longer.
In an affluent area of Mexico City where elementary schools have closed or shrunk because families are having fewer children the city government opened a university in April only for people 60 and older.
The university offers degrees in psychology and business administration. Its 1545 students pay just $3.75 to $18.80 per class.
Its never too late to learn said Senior University student Florentina Salazar 61 who is taking classes in law English and computer science. It makes you feel useful and valued.
In the past the Mexican government offered few benefits to seniors because children usually took care of their aging parents but the dropping birthrate means there are fewer children to share the responsibility.
The federal government stepped in two years ago by giving subsidies of 500 pesos a month about $38 to people 70 and older in poor areas plus it promoted the nationwide shoppers discount card so more people would sign up. Mexico City started its own subsidy program in 2001 giving $61 a month to people 68 and older.
This year the city launched a network of gerontology clinics that dispense free Viagra along with hundreds of other medicines. In February the federal government opened the Geriatric Institute to train doctors.
We are beginning to realize that very soon we are going to have a large amount of senior citizens and we have to get ready said Alejandro Cuadros planning director for Mexico Citys welfare department.
People 60 and older now make up about 9 of Mexicos population of 111 million up from 5.7 in 1975. In the United States that aging population has grown more slowly from 14.8 in 1975 to 18 now.
At the same time Mexicos fertility rate has rapidly dropped to 2.1 children per woman the same as the U.S. rate from 4.4 in 1981.
By 2050 a quarter of Mexicos population 24.4 will be 60 or older nearly on par with the U.S. at 26.9 according to projections by the United Nations. Mexicos new emphasis on social programs is an improvement many seniors say.
For so long we were stuck in our homes. Now we can get out and have a little fun Irene Orta 73 says as she takes a break during a recent dominoes tournament organized by the National Institute for Older Adults. The match was part of a bigger event in which hundreds of seniors competed in sports ranging from swimming to catch ball a variation of volleyball.
Over time the wave of Mexicans who emigrated to the United States in recent decades could cause strains on the pension system if they return home Orozco said.
Whats happening is that older adults who emigrated are having the desire to come back. Its partly a cultural thing and partly an economic thing. I hate to put it this way but they want to die in their homeland Orozco said.
