As the world observes October 1 as International Day of Older Persons, a WHO survey has painted a grim picture in the youth-obsessed world on the status of the elderly — a huge chunk i.e 60 per cent of respondents out of 83,000 people in 57 countries surveyed has negative or ageist attitudes towards older people.

The "World Values Survey" had assessed attitudes to older people across all age groups. Ironically, the lowest levels of respect were reported in high income countries.

"This confirms that ageism is extremely common. Yet most people are completely unaware of the subconscious stereotypes they hold about older people," said John Beard, WHO Director of Ageing and life Course in a WHO statement.

Ageism is discrimination or unfair treatment based on a person's age and the WHO has aptly kept the theme "Take a Stand Against Ageism" for this year.

"It is time to stop defining people by their age. It will result in more prosperous, equitable and healthier societies," Beard added.

Researches show that older people who hold negative views about their own ageing, do not recover as well from disability and live on average 7.5 years less than people with positive attitudes.

By 2025 the number of people aged 60 and over will double, and by 2050 will reach 2 billion globally, with the vast majority of older people living in low and middle income countries.

A report by the UN Population Fund and HelpAge India in 2011 estimates that by 2026, there will be approximately 170 million senior citizens living in India. "Of these, about 30 million senior citizens currently live alone."

Alana Officer, WHO Coordinator of Ageing and life Course, said, "Ageism can take many forms. These include depicting older people as frail, dependent, and out of touch in the media, or through discriminatory practices such as health-care rationing by age, or institutional policies such as mandatory retirement at a certain age."