The forgotten years – How Lebanon’s government is failing its elderly

While once able to rely on pensions, and a stable currency, many older Lebanese now face a stark reality: soaring prices and deteriorating essential services. Along with not being able to afford basic medicinal care for basic issues that come with old age, the pressure is worsened by the decreasing pensions and the impact of constant war.

Since the financial collapse began in 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost over 90% of its value. For elderly citizens living on fixed incomes or pensions, this can barely cover a week’s worth of basic groceries and can never cover rent . Many elderly have had to put aside their upheld pride and resort to asking for support from strangers, if they have no family support, to be able to continue to survive. These people who rebuilt their lives after the 15-year civil war, endured invasions, and watched the fabric of their society fray and mend time and again. Yet today, they find themselves in an unthinkable position: unable to afford medication, struggling to heat their homes, and often left without adequate food or medical care. Their lifetime of resilience is being met with a system that has abandoned them.

Many elderly have been forced to return to work or take on informal jobs, many of which resorting to collecting scraps out of garbage bins for pocket change, instead of rightfully resting after enduring a life full of constant displacement and loss. Those without family support often fall through the cracks, with no government support to come and help them out.

The crisis has not only affected their physical well-being but their dignity, which is a trait that every elder holds dear to their heart and does not waiver from, even in the hardest of times. Those without family structures are left to fend for themselves, having to succumb to a decreasing pension and increasing prices often leading to them becoming homeless in their old age. For example a 98 percent decrease of pension to war veterans from 1500$ to 30$, a value humiliating when compared to the lives lost and the souls that these veterans have given to this country. This is how the people that allowed their country to persevere and remain independent are repaid? The elderly of Lebanon are overlooked and uncared for while they are the very reason the country still exists.

In a country where the older generation once held an honored place, they now face a battle of survival in their final years. Today, they find themselves in an unthinkable position: unable to afford medication, struggling to heat their homes, and left without adequate food or medical care. And still they hang their head high. Their lifetime of resilience is being met with a system that has all but abandoned them. Lebanon’s economic collapse is robbing its elderly of a voice and more importantly of their dignity. They deserve more than fading memories and financial despair. Blackouts, fuel shortages, and empty pharmacies; reminders of war conditions. Memories that were once painful but distant, are now being replayed infront of our eyes with no one taking action for change. It should be a national obligation to look after the very people that have allowed the country to withstand every situation it has been thrown into , not just for the country’s well being , but for restoring a sense of humanity in the nation’s future.