Do Older People Have a Right to Be Loved?

Abstract

AbstractThe population of older adults is growing. Worldwide, the number of persons aged 80 years or over is expected to rise from 137 million to 425 million between 2017 and 2050. As people become older, many live alone and are therefore at increased risk of being socially and emotionally isolated, which is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects including dementia and increased mortality. At the same time, research shows that older persons benefit mentally and physically from feeling socially and emotionally connected. This raises the question of whether older persons need emotional connections and whether they have a right to such emotional connections, that is, whether they have a right to be loved. Elsewhere, S. Matthew Liao has argued that children have a right to be loved. In this chapter, his goal is to explore whether we can make a similar argument for older adults.