Perceptions of aging are changing rapidly in the modern world, the head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency has said
The boundaries of what we consider a young adult could soon be increased to 60 years, the head of Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), Veronika Skvortsova, has said.
She made the suggestion during a session of the Congress of Young Scientists in Moscow on Thursday, which was dedicated to discussing ways of attracting more young people into the field of science.
“According to the WHO (World Health Organization) classification, a young person is someone who hasn’t reached age 45; I think that, taking into account the increase in life expectancy, this will soon be raised to 60 years,” she said.
“Those will all be young people because the periods of aging are changing completely,” the FMBA head added.
The WHO defines adults between the ages of 25 to 44 as young and 45 to 59 as middle age; the threshold for elderly is 60 years.
In April, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that in 2023, the life expectancy in the country had grown to almost 73.5 years, the highest in its history.
Russia’s government plans to raise the life expectancy in the country to 78 years by 2030 and the number of older citizens is growing.
The current retirement age in Russia is 58 for women and 63 for men. By 2028, these will have increased to 60 and 65 respectively, in line with a 2018 pension reform. According to the Ministry of Health, every fourth person in the country will be over age 60 by 2030.
Last month, Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that the average person has the ability to live up to 120 years. “It is genetically embedded in a human,” he insisted. However, in order to achieve such longevity, one has to engage in disease prevention and pursue a healthy lifestyle, Murashko said.
