La belleza de las arrugasun estudio sobre la vejez en el Nordeste de Brasil

Abstract

The goal of this study is to contribute to the present debate on the theme of aging and its natural consequences. Analyzing the demographic and socioeconomic ageing process of a population of the Northeast of Brazil characterized for the declivity of the fecundity and the increase of the life expectancy. The remarkable Demographic Transition in Brazil is taking place in a fast and intense way, from the Sixties, due to the. As the studies show, a great lack of information of the society on the old age and the real needs of old people. Therefore, our intention is to generate data on the group of people with 60 years and more (7.8% of the total population of Mossoró), and thus to contribute to the profile of the Brazilian elder population. This study was carried out between June 2004 and June 2005, through a survey with 83 questions, organized in 10 thematic blocks (demographic aspects, financial profession and resources, family, the subjectivity of the old age, the weight of the time, the house, health and medical assistance, functional abilities, social services and benefits, ageing and the social evolution and the death. The sample was gathered with 500 old men and women of equal number (3% of the investigated population). The statistical analyses of the survey, pioneer in the State of the Grande River of the North (Northeastern Region of Brazil), point out that old people require strong and scheduled public policies, security and social protection, medical assistance, intergenerational solidarity and support to the families. The having analyzed all these aspects, we have come to the conclusion that the logical diagnostic of the necessity of a concrete population in the debates of the social politic y in the comprehension of the ageing at the global societies with different development.