International Day of Older Persons - 1 October 2023

Join the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities in recognising the integral role of older people to their place, and the importance of place to ageing well, this International Day of Older Persons (IDOP).

To help you mark the day, we have developed a suite of campaign materials.

You can also share this resource via Email.

Each year on 1st October, people across the world mark UN International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) to raise awareness of opportunities and challenges faced by ageing populations, and to mobilize the wider community to address difficulties faced by older people.

An Age-friendly Community is one that ensures we all have a place in society as we age, where we are respected and included, and are able to live a good later life where we are. As we’ve learnt through the pandemic and cost of living crises, the place where we live has a huge impact on our wellbeing as we age.

Know Our Place: Celebrating ageing in our community’s past, present and future 

This year’s IDOP theme encourages people to get curious and be proud about your place; to come together across age-groups to discover your place’s past, to celebrate the diverse range of people and places making yours a great place to age, and to commit to make changes, so more people can enjoy good later lives in your community – now and in the future.

Wherever you are living, whether in your own home or a care home, everyone has the opportunity to get involved and contribute to celebrating the contribution being made by older people in communities across the UK for IDOP 2023. 

This International Day of Older Persons, let’s celebrate ageing in our community’s past, present and future.

Discover our past: As we age, we're shaping the place we live in and have stories to tell about the changes we have seen over the years. Let's come together across age groups to discover stories of heritage and progress. 

Celebrate our present: This #IDOP2023 we're celebrating all that's making our community a great place to grow older, as well as the integral role older people have in making our place a better place to live and age, whether at work, in the community, or in care homes.   

Plan for our future: Over the next 10 years, our population is going to look different. We all have a part to play in making ours a more Age-friendly Community, so even more of us are able to enjoy later life here. Let’s take action. 

However you choose to mark International Day of Older Persons this year, your activities will be helping to change the narrative on ageing, and help to get more people talking about the changes we need to see today so that more people can enjoy a good later life, now and in the future. 

The official date of International Day of Older Persons is 1 October, but you can celebrate any time that suits you. 

To help you mark the day, we have developed a suite of campaign materials including: 

• A logo 

• Infographics with relevant statistics 

• A new collection of our age-positive image library photos

• A generic and editable poster for your communications 

• Zoom backgrounds for your presentations

• You can also get involved by using the hashtag #IDOP2023. 

For more ideas about how you might mark the day, see how people celebrated last year or find your local Age-friendly lead by browsing the map of UK Network of Age-friendly Communities. 

Supporting communities to mark International Day of Older Persons in October is just a small part of how we’re changing the narrative on ageing at the Centre for Ageing Better. In March 2024, as part of our forthcoming campaign to tackle ageism, we will be launching our first Action Day.  This will be a themed day when we will encourage all our supporters to come together to take action to address ageism.   

Sign up to the Age-friendly Movement and receive our newsletter to find out how you can be involved