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Developing Countries: Overview
For able older persons, continued employment can serve simultaneously to maintain personal earnings, to promote participation in the social and economic life of the community and to ease the burden placed on national resources for support of the economically inactive elderly. Yet, the frequency of unemployment among older workers is generally increasing, and provisions for early retirement pensions are becoming more prevalent. At the same time, however, pressure for adaptation of work places to suit the needs of older employees, introduction of part-time work schedules, and inclusion of older workers in vocational training programs is getting stronger in many contexts.
In some countries, fewer than 1 in 10 older persons can read and write.
Secondary school completion rates of 2 per cent or less are not uncommon among older female populations.
Literacy rates, reflecting limited opportunities for education, among the elderly were shown to be high in developing countries, especially in the rural areas. This means that the elderly, particularly elderly women, tend to be disadvantaged in areas where education and adaptation to new roles may be an important factor such as, in re-employment, knowledge of health and social issues and in managing daily affairs without assistance.
Graph: % of Persons Who Completed Secondary School (Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)
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