Ensuring we grow old with grace

THE good news: Malaysians are living longer.

The bad news: We’re mostly living those extra years in ill health.

That is the grim picture painted by the 2025 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), which was released last Monday.

The last time the NHMS focused on older people was in 2018; this is the second round of senior-focused information gathering.

The good news: Our older folk are dealing with depression better, with the number going from 11.2% in 2018 to 8% now; more seniors are also doing better with less physical dependency in daily living.

The bad news: In seven years the number of people suffering from dementia has risen from 8.5% to 10%.

Other negative findings include the fact that 18.8% of seniors – that works out to nearly one in five of the 4.1 million older people in the country – live alone compared with 6.3% in 2018. That’s a huge leap.

This report is an alarm bell. To respond, we must jump in with both feet and address current and future issues.

To begin with, we need to fast track the Senior Citizens’ Bill because the country is ageing now – not some time in the future, but now.

This Bill proposes to protect the rights and welfare of Malaysia’s elderly by establishing legal safeguards against abuse and neglect, while mandating the development of age-friendly infrastructure and specialised healthcare to support dignified ageing. It will hopefully be tabled in Parliament this year.

The second thing is to make sure future senior citizens are healthier.

According to the NHMS 2025, currently only 14.7% of older Malaysians are ageing well. The majority are living with multimorbidity – the presence of two or more chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.

Many of our elderly are thus spending their twilight years in clinics and hospitals rather than within their communities. This burden is not just a personal tragedy; it is an economic weight our healthcare system cannot sustain.

As Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has cautioned, we cannot start addressing ageing issues only when individuals reach their 60s. The poor health of today’s seniors is often the result of poor lifestyle choices made decades earlier.

So to truly change our trajectory, we must address the other end of the age spectrum and raise awareness of healthy living among the young, starting with children.

Our education system must move beyond textbooks to prioritise nutritious meals in school canteens and active play over sedentary screen time.

If we do not teach our children the value of a balanced diet and exercise now, we are simply preparing the next generation for premature frailty.

Malaysia is already an ageing nation; we must ensure that growing old remains a grace, not a burden on family, caregivers and the economy.