This rate is higher than that of the entire population of Morocco, which stands at 1.7%, indicates the HCP in an information note published on the occasion of the International Day of the Elderly, celebrated on October 1. of each year.
By 2050, this number should reach 10 million people, according to HCP projections, ie an annual increase of 2.9% (against 0.6% for the entire population of Morocco).
The demographic weight of the elderly would then be 23.2% instead of 12.2% currently. This rapid evolution is explained by the increase in life expectancy at birth, from 47 years at the beginning of the 1960s to 76.9 years today, allowing the arrival at advanced ages of numerous cohorts from periods of high fertility. high.
By gender, in 2022, the number of elderly women will be 2.3 million, or 100,000 more than men, and will reach 5.4 million in 2050, or 770,000 more. This is due to the fact that women have a higher life expectancy which is estimated at 78.6 years at birth (against 75.2 years for men) and 22.3 years at age 60 (against 20 years for men).
Moreover, the relatively early age at entry to first marriage for women (25.5 years in 2018) compared to that of men (31.9 years) combined with a lower proportion of remarriage among women who have broken off their first union (8.5% against 14.5% for men) increases the relative risk for women of finding themselves at age 60 in a situation of widowhood, or even of living alone.
Indeed, the proportion of widowed elderly people is ten times higher among women (45.3%) than among men (4.2%) and the proportion of elderly women living alone is four times higher than that of men. (12.2% and 3.2%, respectively).
The conditions in which women grow old are generally less good compared to men, they are more likely than older men to end their lives alone, without a spouse, this situation of vulnerability is exacerbated by a low participation in working life and also by greater exposure to chronic diseases.
Indeed, 9.4% of elderly women have a job (compared to 38.4% of men) in 2021, often as family helpers (57.1%). Having little or no integration into the job market and having generally taken on the domestic work and raising the children in the past, few elderly women benefit from a retirement pension (15.8% against 41.1% for older men in 2021).
In terms of health, a little more than two thirds (73.3%) of elderly women suffer from at least one chronic disease (compared to 55.5% for men) while a little less than a third (31 9%) of these women have no medical coverage, compared to 23.5% for men.
This reflects the dependence of a large proportion of elderly women on other family members, especially since nine out of ten of them are illiterate. This dependency exposes the elderly woman, in some cases, to violence.
According to the survey on violence against women, one in three elderly women (33.2%) report having suffered an act of violence in 2019. This violence is mainly physical and/or psychological with a prevalence of 25 .9%.
This year, the theme chosen for this international day is that of the important role that older women play in meeting global challenges and contributing to their solutions with resilience and courage.
The HCP presents, on this occasion, some information relating to the situation of the elderly in Morocco, with particular emphasis on the situation of elderly women.
