Data on older people and COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries

The current state of data on older people and COVID-19 in LMICs is deplorable, considering the particular impact that the epidemic is having on this group. Problems include a complete absence of age-disagreggated data on cases or deaths for several countries, long delays in reporting in other countries and (in almost all other countries) data that vastly under-state the true numbers of infections and deaths among people of all ages, but especially older adults.

Data on other potential impacts on older people, such as mental health, exposure to abuse or access to health services are virtually non-existent and there is no indication of significant efforts to collect this information for LMICs.

The Global Platform will attempt to monitor the availability and reliability of data on these important issues. This will include a list of data sources, which we will update over time. You should be able to access these sites to find data for yourselves (although not all are in English). But please, before you make use of these data, bear in mind that many are of limited reliability and some may do more to confuse than to reveal what is really happening to older people.