October 1 Comes to an End

October 1 Comes to an End

2 October 2025

It is the evening of October 1st, and I am watching the news on TV. Just a day after the Future of Work conference, where aging and the demographic shift were on the agenda but remained underexposed because the speaker fell ill, I realized how present the theme of aging really is.

This morning, I learned it happens to be International Day of Older Persons, or something along those lines. By coincidence, my sister-in-law celebrates her 64th birthday today. We visited her at a mall where a cultural festival was taking place, with live tambú music. You don’t need a study or a statistic to notice the aging of our population—just look around.

According to the 2023 Census, almost a quarter of the population is now over 65. That number alone should alarm us. It reminds me of articles describing the dire state of elderly care in Aruba, and Curaçao is hardly doing better. I read that Curaçao recently tightened its requirements for elderly care facilities (source). About time, though I fear it may turn into yet another paper tiger.

Today, I also heard the Minister of Culture praise the elderly in a speech. Meanwhile, on the news, the Ombudsman scolded the government in a formal letter for failing to index the AOV (our pension) for the past four years. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Central Bank warned of persistent inflation.

It doesn’t look good. For many, a pleasant old age will be difficult—if not impossible—to achieve unless we act now. Unless we stop treating the elderly as an afterthought and start seeing them as the backbone of our society. Aging is not a problem; neglect is.

Miguel Goede