“For health issues, we have the health ministry. But for lifelong learning for the elderly population, there is no ownership (by any ministry).

“The women, family and community development ministry and the human resources ministry said this was not under their purview while the education ministry deals with formal education,” its president Soon Ting Kueh said at a forum organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia here.

He acknowledged the efforts carried out by the University of the Third Age (U3A), a lifelong learning programme for the elderly which began in 2007 under Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) Institute of Gerontology, but said such efforts had to be widened.

The U3A was set up to provide lifelong learning courses for elderly Malaysians by allowing them to pick up skills like arts and crafts, gardening and others, he said.

Meanwhile, Rahimah Ibrahim, who is director of the Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing under UPM, called for a more age-friendly society, saying that older people were staying in the workforce longer because they could not afford to retire.

In addition to high living costs, she said life expectancy was higher in urban areas. This, she said, made accommodating the needs of an ageing population crucial.

“We need to take demographic aspects into account to make our cities and communities more age-friendly.

“We are living longer so we need to plan better, (and) this includes ensuring adequate insurance, long-term savings and strong support networks of family and friends,” she added.

She urged the government to ensure that age does not become a basis for discrimination.

On Monday, a report by the statistics department revealed that babies born this year are expected to live for an average of 75.2 years.

According to the department’s previous publication for the years 2020-2022, a baby born in 2022 was expected to live an average of 73.4 years, reflecting an increase of 1.8 years for those born in 2024.