Aging people's leisure time

Essay by amandachenUniversity, Bachelor'sB-, August 2007

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Age is both an observable and a universal demographic; country like Australia is facing this issue. Australia’s population has aged steadily throughout the 20th century (Australian government, 2005). In the year 2005, it is estimated that 14 percent of total Australian population was more than 65 yeas of age, and expected to rise to at least 18 percent by the year 2021(ABS, 2005). This enormous increase arises from three basic facts: the increased number of “baby- boomers’, the accelerated immigration of young people until the 1970s who are now among this group and a declining birth rate in Australia since the 1960s. During 1945 to 1966, there was a high birth rate hence labeled as the “baby-boomers”(Philip, 2005). Those people immigrated during 1970s, belongs to aging group now and people are living longer due to the better life. Over the past 30 years, life expectancy has increased from 78 to 80 years of age among men and from 81 to 84 years of age among women (ABS, 2005).

Consequently, how to take care of the aging people is a critical issue, especially in leisure area. Leisure is important for people of all ages, but is especially so for the elderly since they are likely to retire and have more time to engage in leisure activities (Alder et al., 2005). The two domains of life in this category are the leisure and recreation domain including hobbies, entertainment, sports, relaxation, as well as the arts and culture domain, which is further sub-divided into festivals, performances and exhibitions (Veal, 2000). Therefore, provision of high quality, affordability and accessibility of leisure facilities will be crucial in caring for the growing number of older people.

Generally, older active and frail are the main two types of ageing people. The older active means people who are...