Alicante, increasingly older: one in five inhabitants is already over 60 years old

The challenge of this life is to grow old, and not die trying. A goal that, thanks to advances in medicine and a higher general quality of life, more and more people are achieving. The problem is that, conversely, they do not arrive. Data from the latest infertility congress held in Alicante shows that currently, fewer children are born than during the Civil War.

Experts warn of a "serious demographic threat", with societies getting older and older. In Alicante, one in five inhabitants is already over 60 years old, according to data provided by councilor Nayma Beldjilali on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, celebrated every October 1st according to the UN declaration.

In total, there are 75,000 people over 65 years old in Alicante. A huge community that grows day by day. Last year, two thousand new users registered at Senior Centers, according to figures provided at the institutional event held for the first time in the Blue Hall of the Alicante City Hall.

The mayor, Luis Barcala, has highlighted that more elderly people live in Alicante "than the population of many provincial capitals" and that approximately one third of them are integrated into one of the 19 municipal senior centers. For them, he announced that "in the next budgets, the allocation for offering more activities and more places for new users will be increased". This year, 360 activities have been carried out in the 19 senior centers that Alicante has. They already exceed 27,000 users.

For her part, the Councilor for Social Welfare, Begoña León, indicated the importance of "paying tribute to a fundamental part of society, the elderly, guardians of our history and transmitters of values and traditions who with their effort and dedication have built the paths we walk today". From the council, she explained, "we work with the most vulnerable elderly" through various programs such as dependency care, 'Menjar a casa', telecare and currently with the pilot program 'My loneliness' with other administrations.

In addition, Barcala pointed out that the elderly are one of the axes of collaboration with Elche City Council with which "we exchange experiences that benefit both cities".