2025 Data Lay Bare Elder Care Gaps in an Aging Brazil

Overview

• Brazil now has more than 32 million people aged 60 or over, and projections indicate roughly one‑third of the population will be elderly by mid‑century, according to IBGE.
• In the Federal District, about 180,000 older residents waited nearly two years on average for specialist consultations as of July 2025, with roughly 200,000 in line for exams averaging 2.21 years, alongside chronically low execution of authorized elder‑policy budgets since 2019.
• Reports to the National Human Rights Ombudsman in the DF surged from 1,739 in 2020 to 8,433 in 2024, with 7,480 violations logged through September 2025 and older women accounting for 63.7% of cases.
• The Maranhão public defender’s office recorded more than 1,700 attendances to older people in 2025, led by lack of documentation (562), negligence (210), financial abuse (159) and psychological violence (85).
• Specialists say most cities remain unprepared for aging, the largely female‑driven care economy is under‑valued at an estimated 12.7% of GDP, and local efforts such as Saquarema’s Centro Dia and Itaguaí’s Elderly Week illustrate pilot‑scale responses with uneven reach.