From the MT:
"Russia Remains an Uncomfortable Place to Grow Old"
Moscow's metro will celebrate the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons by handing out souvenirs to its elderly passengers and playing popular old tunes on the subway, but international rankings released during the holiday indicate that Russia remains an uncomfortable place to grow old.
HelpAge International's Global AgeWatch Index, released on the UN holiday Wednesday, ranked Russia 65th among 96 countries around the world on the quality of later life. The rating placed Russia behind such former Soviet republics as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, Georgia and Armenia in the Caucasus Mountains, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Baltics, and Belarus just to Russia's west. Ukraine ranked 82nd. In an attempt to put some smiles on the faces of elderly Russians during the UN holiday, established in 1990 to raise awareness of the problems facing the elderly, Moscow subway will hand out more than 1,000 souvenirs at stations along the central Ring Line, a metro spokesperson said, Interfax reported. Moscow's metro will also broadcast popular old tunes at its stations throughout the day, the spokesperson was quoted as saying. The HelpAge International index ranked countries based on four indicators: income security, health, "capability," such as education levels and availability of employment, and "enabling environment," such as support for friends and family, and the safety of neighborhoods. Norway topped the index, with Western Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Israel also ranking highly, while Afghanistan came in last. Among former Soviet republics, Estonia ranked the best, in 20th place.
^ Life in Russia for the young is hard enough, but even more so for the elderly. I remember seeing woman in their 80s out shoveling snow using a kind of Russian broom (they didn't even have a shovel.) They did it to get the few rubles to supplement their meager pensions. In the apartment building I lived in an old woman would come by one a month and you would give her a few kopecks (Russian cents) since she would take care of and clean the stairways - all by hand. It was sad and very depressing to see these old women working extremely hard for mere pennies. They were too proud to take more than agreed upon for the few that offered more. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-remains-an-uncomfortable-place-to-grow-old/508206.html
"Russia Remains an Uncomfortable Place to Grow Old"
Moscow's metro will celebrate the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons by handing out souvenirs to its elderly passengers and playing popular old tunes on the subway, but international rankings released during the holiday indicate that Russia remains an uncomfortable place to grow old.
HelpAge International's Global AgeWatch Index, released on the UN holiday Wednesday, ranked Russia 65th among 96 countries around the world on the quality of later life. The rating placed Russia behind such former Soviet republics as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, Georgia and Armenia in the Caucasus Mountains, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Baltics, and Belarus just to Russia's west. Ukraine ranked 82nd. In an attempt to put some smiles on the faces of elderly Russians during the UN holiday, established in 1990 to raise awareness of the problems facing the elderly, Moscow subway will hand out more than 1,000 souvenirs at stations along the central Ring Line, a metro spokesperson said, Interfax reported. Moscow's metro will also broadcast popular old tunes at its stations throughout the day, the spokesperson was quoted as saying. The HelpAge International index ranked countries based on four indicators: income security, health, "capability," such as education levels and availability of employment, and "enabling environment," such as support for friends and family, and the safety of neighborhoods. Norway topped the index, with Western Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Israel also ranking highly, while Afghanistan came in last. Among former Soviet republics, Estonia ranked the best, in 20th place.
^ Life in Russia for the young is hard enough, but even more so for the elderly. I remember seeing woman in their 80s out shoveling snow using a kind of Russian broom (they didn't even have a shovel.) They did it to get the few rubles to supplement their meager pensions. In the apartment building I lived in an old woman would come by one a month and you would give her a few kopecks (Russian cents) since she would take care of and clean the stairways - all by hand. It was sad and very depressing to see these old women working extremely hard for mere pennies. They were too proud to take more than agreed upon for the few that offered more. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-remains-an-uncomfortable-place-to-grow-old/508206.html
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