247 - The choice of the ENEM 2025 essay topic, "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society," shed light on one of the country's greatest structural dilemmas: Brazil is aging at an accelerated pace, without its social and economic structure keeping up. What should be a cause for celebration, since living longer is a civilizational achievement, is confronted with the precariousness of the future and the persistence of a "silent and persistent social disease: ageism." 

This scenario of pension uncertainty and assistance failure places the nation before a bottleneck that threatens its own development. The president of IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, warns about the "new world of digital work" and states that Brazil has "a generation of workers who may not retire."indicating that the traditional idea of ​​social security has been attacked over the years by neoliberal reforms.

Journalist, researcher, and gerontologist Jorgemar Felix reinforces the economic risk of inaction, saying that "Unprotected aging can be a major bottleneck for the future of the Brazilian economy."...and that "the failure to provide long-term care could be a stranglehold on the Brazilian economy, hindering economic growth." According to the columnists of... Brazil 247For one of the least ageist companies in Brazil, which values ​​the talent of its veterans, the urgent challenge is to move beyond the paradox of a country that idolizes youth while simultaneously making aging with dignity a privilege, thus exposing the "invisibility of the elderly." 

The urgency, therefore, lies in recognizing that "Respect for the elderly is the mirror of a society that understands its own future" and that, despite Brazil having a large and advanced legal framework for the rights of the elderly, the challenge is "to put these laws into practice." Given the inevitability that "aging is the only democratic certainty of human existence," Brasil 247 launches this special report, bringing together essential reflections from some of Brazil's leading journalists. Read below:

Luis Pellegrini

Aging: the only democratic certainty

Respect for the elderly reflects a society that understands its own future.

Aging is inevitable. But aging with dignity is a collective choice. Brazil needs to decide whether it wants to be a nation that fears the passage of time or a society that celebrates it, recognizing that by protecting its elderly, it also protects its own future.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of meeting several centenarians, men and women, all of them exceptional beings in terms of personal light, strength, and energy. Today, I want to refer to just one: the Italian Rita Levi-Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, whom I interviewed in Rome in 2009. Rita had just turned one hundred years old, and I went to visit her in the beautiful penthouse where she lived, in the historic center of Rome.

It was a warm afternoon, and she was on the terrace, sheltered by an awning, sitting behind a large work table. She stood up when she saw me arrive and, smiling, said in Portuguese almost without an accent: “Greetings, Brazilian! Are you the one who will help me overcome the longing I feel for Rio de Janeiro?” Rita visited Rio de Janeiro in 1952, after the war, to conduct research at the Institute of Biophysics, at the invitation of Carlos Chagas Filho, where she continued her studies that would lead to the discovery of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). It was the beginning of the scientific work that led her to the Nobel Prize in 1986. Brazil had left special memories in her.

The first thing I noticed was a stack of folders with texts and handouts on the table. They were papers and theses from students she supervised for master's, doctoral, and postgraduate studies. And the first question was: "You've turned one hundred years old and you're still working?" And she replied: "Yes, I don't want my brain to rot." I asked: "Does work prevent that from happening?" Rita retorted: "Of course, this is perhaps the central point of everything I've done in life and what ended up giving me the Nobel Prize. The brain is an organ that practically doesn't age, as long as it's kept active. Laziness, both physical and mental, is the greatest enemy of brain longevity. Did you know that it's a lie that brain cells don't reproduce? They reproduce—and how! You just have to not let this organ sleep the sleep of mental vagabonds." The conversation went on for a long time, always in that good-humored tone of someone who is at peace with life.

Testimonies like Rita's are, I believe, more than ever, fundamental in this historical phase of a humanity that is becoming increasingly older. The issue of aging is becoming central, to the point of now being one of the most discussed questions on the ENEM exam.

Our country is no exception to the phenomenon of aging populations. Yes, Brazil is aging—and aging rapidly. According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), more than 15% of the Brazilian population is already over 60 years old, and in less than three decades, we will be a country with more elderly people than children. 

This demographic shift, resulting from successful public health policies and declining birth rates, should be celebrated as a civilizational advancement. However, behind the numbers lies a challenge that the country is still reluctant to confront: how to guarantee dignified, active, and respected aging?

The inadequacy of public policies aimed at the elderly reveals the structural unpreparedness of the State in the face of this new reality. 

Specialized hospitals and community centers are scarce, geriatric care is insufficient, and assistance programs often survive on meager budgets. Meanwhile, social security continues to be treated solely from a fiscal perspective, not as a social and civic issue. The constitutional promise of support and dignity in old age remains distant from the daily lives of most.

But the problem is not only institutional—it is also cultural. Prejudice against aging, so-called ageism, persists as a silent form of exclusion. In a society that worships youth and productivity, the elderly are often seen as a burden, a weight on the family or the system. Advertising rarely portrays them prominently, and the job market discards them before they can even choose to stop working. This cruel logic, which values ​​appearance and speed over experience and wisdom, impoverishes the human fabric of society.

As sociologist Zygmunt Bauman warned, we live in a "liquid society" that discards everything that doesn't fit the ideal of efficiency and consumption. Aging, in this context, is almost an act of resistance—a reminder that time, memory, and experience still have value.

It is therefore urgent that mindsets change. Aging should not be seen as a burden, but as a new phase of life that deserves integrated policies for preventive health, digital inclusion, leisure, and social interaction. Caring for the elderly is caring for the future of us all—after all, aging is the only democratic certainty of human existence.

Luis Pellegrini is 81 years old and has been a journalist since he was 16.

Denise Assis

Seniors consume and support families, but they are transparent in Brazil.

The ENEM exam theme exposed the invisibility of the elderly and the hypocrisy of a society that depends on them but pretends not to see them.

More than just a topic choice for this year's ENEM essay, "Perspectives on Aging in Brazilian Society" was a political act. It forced young people—both the rich and white, who jumped from their parents' luxury cars to the exam room, and the Black, poor, and marginalized, who arrived at the exam on buses without air conditioning or the subway—to reflect on a segment of the population they barely see, barely look at: the elderly. At most, they curse them when, rushing to some appointment, they are on their way, slower because haste is no longer essential. By choosing this topic, the youth were forced to reflect on the "detached" in their lives. Yes, the elderly are outside the assembly line and, therefore, detached.

In a country brutalized by the passage of the Jair Bolsonaro hurricane through the Presidency of the Republic—a period in which citizens' rights were ignored or reduced—one of the aspects vilified by his Finance Minister, Paulo Guedes, was that of benefits for retirees. He used to preach far and wide, mainly to young audiences, that the government should decouple the benefits for retirees from the calculation of the minimum wage adjustment. And he made a point of emphasizing in his speeches that young people were "supporting lazy people." Then, he extolled the benefits of those who choose, today, to be "entrepreneurs," omitting the information—recently revealed in an IBGE survey—that this precarious segment has achieved nothing but the costs of their choice and has no time for themselves.

What Paulo Guedes didn't tell his listeners is that today's "bums" were yesterday's assets. 

And while they worked themselves to exhaustion, they supported the studies of young people who are now in the job market—paying taxes so they could graduate from public schools and free universities. Isn't that how the wheel turns? By encouraging them to stop contributing—which is what happens with the self-employed, most of the time—they condemn those who are now reaching the threshold defined as "elderly," those over 65, to the eternity of working life.

And there are many of us. According to the latest Demographic Census, from 2022, the total number of people aged 65 or older in the country reached 10,9% of the population, a 57,4% increase compared to 2010, when that number was 7,4%. This is what the results of the Brazilian population universe, disaggregated by age and sex, from that census reveal.

According to technicians from the Institute, the Statute of the Elderly defines an elderly person as someone 60 years of age or older. The cutoff of 65 years and older was used in the IBGE's analysis to allow for comparison with international data and other research that uses this age range, such as labor market studies. All this "numbering" points to a reality already perceived and studied by statisticians: the increase in the population aged 65 or older, together with the decrease in the proportion of the population up to 14 years of age in the same period (which went from 24,1% to 19,8%), highlights the clear aging of the Brazilian population.

Over time, the base of the age pyramid has narrowed due to the reduction in fertility and births occurring in Brazil. This change in the shape of the age pyramid became visible from the 1990s onwards, and Brazil's age pyramid clearly lost its pyramidal shape from 2000 onwards. What has been observed over the years is a reduction in the young population, with an increase in the adult population.

Certainly, those responsible for grading the essays will not find this abundance of data in the millions of texts that will pass through the examining board. Impacted by the surprise of the topic—many had guessed the environment—these young people will be forced to see us, to consider us as part of this society that moves without them realizing it, and that also consumes. In Brazil, the “silver economy” generates R$ 1,6 trillion per year. And this volume will continue to increase, according to the American public relations and marketing agency FleishmanHillard.

Young students, be aware that 34% of senior citizens contribute to household expenses. 38% are the primary breadwinners for their families, supplementing their income with other activities to make ends meet at the end of the month when they are "taken advantage of" in the job market, and 28% are the sole providers for their entire household, including grandchildren, daughters-in-law, and children.

We are not the "nuisances," as Paulo Guedes used to say, despite often being "transparent" to the younger majority of the population. Soon, we will be the majority. And how will this youth deal with this inescapable fact?

The country moved towards this situation starting in 1965, with the creation of BEMFAM — the Brazilian Society for Family Well-being — between 1965 and 1980, within the framework of the XV Brazilian Obstetrics and Gynecology Conference in Rio de Janeiro. This congress, which appeared to fight for "family planning," actually worked towards the sterilization of poor women, mainly in the Northeast. Combined with these actions, the constant campaigns by right-wing governments to raise awareness of the need to reduce the fertility rate have led to a decline in the number of births since the 1990s.

As I ask the question above, an image comes to mind. One Sunday, while walking between my house and a street market, I came across police officers surrounding a black tarp on the corner where I needed to pass. "What happened?" I asked, with my usual reporter's curiosity. "A woman jumped. The neighbors said she lived alone and that her children and grandchildren had abandoned her. They never visited her."

There, warmed by the autumn sun, the reality of aging illustrated for me, in the most concrete way possible, what it can be like to grow old in Brazil. The numbers above fill our knowledge, but the image of that black tarp, which concludes this text, speaks to something much stronger: the lack of affection and respect for this segment of the population that insists on living, but sometimes gives up.

Denise Assis is 71 years old and has 50 years of professional experience as a journalist.

Teresa Cruvinel

Ageism, a universal prejudice on the rise.

This is not an economic or political problem. It is simply another manifestation of human stupidity and pettiness.

Once again, in choosing the essay topic for the ENEM exam, the educators at INEP (National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira) challenged our young people to reflect on and write about highly relevant contemporary issues.

Perhaps not everyone who discussed "Perspectives on Aging in Brazilian Society" in Sunday's exam addressed the issue of ageism, or prejudice against older people. After all, the aging of the Brazilian population also brings challenges to the social security and health systems, as well as to social assistance. Increasingly, families are pushing their elderly members into care institutions, whether public or private.

If ageism, contrary to predictions, was not one of the aspects prioritized by students in their essays, it will be a sign that we are even worse off than we thought. It will be a sign that this prejudice and its harmful effects are still largely ignored by younger generations. When the problem goes unnoticed, it goes unchallenged and tends to worsen.

However, ageism is the most pervasive prejudice, with the most universal reach—more so than racism and sexism. It doesn't affect people because of their skin color, ethnicity, physical characteristics, socioeconomic status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. It is universal because it occurs in different societies, although it is more acute in countries with a lower Human Development Index (HDI).

Its consequences are also far-reaching. Older people are discriminated against when seeking employment, despite often possessing experience that would be beneficial to the company. Driven out of the job market when they could still contribute to wealth creation, they become an economic burden on their families or the state.

Occupational discrimination and social isolation, along with negative stereotypes about being elderly—that they are slow, outdated, incapable, boring, and ugly—lead to depression and other physical and mental illnesses, cognitive decline, and premature aging.

Brazil's "elderly without social security" will either rely on the BPC (Continuous Benefit Payment) or become "street dwellers." We've already had children living on the streets; now we have a vast population experiencing homelessness, especially among the elderly. And even in wealthier families, they are ostracized and increasingly placed in paid nursing homes.

The elderly are treated as second-class citizens, no longer fully belonging to the contemporary world, and therefore are not positively represented in the media and social images. Even advertising for "anti-aging" cosmetics doesn't use older female models. Derogatory expressions are directed at the elderly, and even if this isn't verbalized, they receive paternalistic treatment: they are treated with the tutelary posture reserved for the incapable and for children.

If an elderly person asks their son or grandson to teach them how to do something on a cell phone, the younger person takes the device and does what is asked. They don't teach them, assuming an inability to learn. This is a common occurrence.

In connection with sexism, ageism particularly mistreats women. Throughout our working lives, we face lower wages compared to men, even though today we even have a law prohibiting this. In later life, we are more discriminated against than men in accessing jobs, victims of the false idea that we lose productivity earlier. In professions that highly value aesthetic attributes, we lose competitiveness very early on, no matter how competent we are.

Even public policies tend to focus more on women of reproductive age, relegating those who have already crossed the menopause line to a secondary level. Prevention of breast and uterine cancers, for example, focuses especially on younger women, although older women are also affected by these diseases, as well as osteoporosis, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and other ailments that appear later in life.

There are many forms of invisibility imposed on women in their later years, despite all the achievements we have made in recent decades. We have guaranteed rights and we have the strength and courage to fight for those that present themselves as new needs. We have gained freedom and independence, we have expanded our role and protagonism in so many areas, but when old age arrives, we face invisibility.

This stems from persistent gender inequalities and a lack of specific public policies. Even when women manage to maintain social or professional prominence, they become economic, social, political, professional, or familial elements, but are no longer seen as women in terms of their sexual and emotional lives.

The false idea prevails that sex is nonexistent, forbidden, or unnecessary in women's later years, a stigma stemming from associating sexuality exclusively with youth, when, in truth, it takes on diverse forms and needs in different phases of life.

While older men, especially those with good incomes, are accepted by much younger women for romantic relationships, mature women are denied the possibility of rebuilding their relationships when they become widowed or separated (often because their husbands have fallen in love with someone much younger).

Ageism and its harmful manifestations will unfortunately worsen in Brazil if we do not combat it intensely now, as the percentage of the elderly population will continue to increase significantly. This is a demographic fact that the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) has already made indisputable.

Between the years 2000 and 2023, the elderly population increased from 8,7% to 15,6% — or from 15 million to 33 million in absolute numbers.

In 2021, Brazil had 14,7% of its population aged 60 or older, or 31,23 million in absolute numbers. This represents a 39% increase compared to the previous nine years. By 2030, Brazil is projected to have the fifth largest elderly population in the world.

By 2070, people over 60 years old will represent 75,3% of the population.

Many problems will arise from this demographic shift, and we will have to find solutions at the right time. Ageism, however, is something we must begin to combat now. This is not an economic or political problem. It is simply another manifestation of human stupidity and pettiness.

Tereza Cruvinel is 70 years old and has been working as a professional journalist for 44 years.

Florestan Fernandes Junior

The challenge of aging with dignity in Brazil

The accelerated aging of society poses a major challenge: overcoming ageism, prejudice based on age.

The theme of this year's ENEM essay, "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society," could not be more timely. Data from the IBGE Census points to a significant growth in the elderly population in the country. People over 60 years of age currently represent about 16% of the 212 million inhabitants, and projections indicate that, by 2040, the so-called "third age" will account for a quarter of the Brazilian population.

The accelerated aging of society poses a major challenge: overcoming ageism, which is prejudice based on age. In Brazil, most elderly people live on meager pensions, insufficient to guarantee a dignified and healthy life, precisely at a time when healthcare becomes most necessary. Furthermore, finding employment to supplement income is nearly impossible. Age discrimination in the labor market reinforces social exclusion and deepens historical inequalities.

In a country that values ​​youth as synonymous with productivity and success, the elderly are often seen as a burden, not as individuals who have accumulated fundamental knowledge and experience. This exclusionary view dehumanizes and impoverishes society as a whole. Ageism not only marginalizes but also directly affects the mental and physical health of older people, potentially causing depression, loneliness, and cognitive decline.

More than guaranteeing public support policies, it is urgent to build a culture that values ​​aging as a natural and rich part of life. Respecting and including the elderly is respecting the very trajectory of Brazilian society, a country that is inevitably aging and needs to learn to age with dignity.

In indigenous communities, the shaman, the oldest member of the tribe, is revered for his wisdom, for carrying ancestral knowledge, oral tradition, and the customs of his people. Respect for the past is what maintains collective memory and guides the future.

In this sense, it is worth remembering that President Lula, upon turning 80, symbolizes this power of experience. He is a living example that age is not a limit, but a legacy. 

The "shaman" of the Brazilian tribe continues to be, through his trajectory, one of the most respected heads of state in the world, proof that aging can also be an act of resistance, wisdom, and renewal.

Florestan Fernandes Júnior is 72 years old and began his journalistic career in 1976 at Jornal da Tarde.

Hildegard Angel

The ABCs of old age

One of the prerogatives of being old is getting at least one question right on the last ENEM exam.

Sometimes I'm surprised when people treat me with the care and deference one should give to an old person. If I didn't have a mirror at home, I might even forget the detail. In recent decades, I've repeatedly asked not to be called "ma'am"—I didn't feel like one. Now, I accept it with a mixture of resignation and good humor, as if inwardly laughing at those who address me that way. 

Okay, I've been a bit distracted lately, and I confess my difficulty with passwords, which are becoming increasingly numerous, and keeping up with the changing rules of the apps I use. One exercise I do regularly is mental. It gives me the ability to improvise and find my own way to deal with digital technology. Those who were born and raised in it don't need to "make do," which is a shame.           

One of the prerogatives of being old is getting at least one question right on the last ENEM exam: "The challenges of aging and ageism". 

The older I get, the more convinced I become that old age is not a condition, it's a choice. Those who resist psychological decline, even while suffering some physical decline, live well. They are happy. There is no challenge, there is only a willingness or unwillingness to grow old. 

Yesterday, I went to a friend's 80th birthday party at the Clube dos Macacos in Jardim Botânico. It was packed with heads, beards, and white goatees. No plastic surgery, no trace of Botox. Full lives, faces and bodies embraced. They weren't just bodies or faces, they were accolades for services rendered to Brazil. Imprinted on them were dreams and struggles that became memoirs and history books, theses, professorships, dissertations. If there was a challenge for that left-leaning group at Agostinho Guerreiro's birthday party – the surname explains it – it was the staircase leading up to it. 

However, those who were active during the military dictatorship, who took to the streets, went underground, changed their identities, gathered in safe houses, took up arms or not, were arrested, tortured, lost their comrades, went into exile, survived, returned and rebuilt their lives – climbed the stairs just fine. I, who did none of that, was saved by the handrail. 

All the research on old age that I did this week to write this text, which included works by Machado, Clarice, and Lúcio, as well as a memorandum from the US State Department to its diplomatic missions abroad denying visas to the obese, sick, and... elderlyAll this accumulated knowledge didn't give me the answer I found there, in the darkness of the Monkey Club, among centuries-old palm trees and vibrant, almost centenarian friends, in an enthusiastic adolescent gathering – the tonic of youth is to embrace causes and dreams worth the price of one's own life.

And long live Agostinho, Dulce Pandolfi, and everyone present at that party, which became a text, which will become a book, on their 80th birthday. Thank you so much for this lesson. School benches don't close their doors to those who don't close themselves off from them.

Dulce Pandolfi is the political prisoner who was used as a "model" by the military in their "torture lessons" for novice torturers.

Hildegard Angel is 76 years old and has worked continuously since she was 18.

Miguel Paiva

Aging in the ENEM exam and in Brazil

This is the best perspective that can exist: creating conditions for aging to be smooth and rewarding.

The other day, doing The Cheap Thrill of Old Age On TV247, which is all about this topic, I asked Márcia Carmo, our correspondent in Buenos Aires, if my impression that Argentina is an older country than Brazil, in terms of habits, culture, and respect for elders, was true. She agreed, even though President Milei likes and sings rock and roll. Argentine culture is less changeable than ours, less influenceable, less subject to variations, a result of a more European, more conservative colonization.

This serves as an introduction to the theme of this year's ENEM essay and this article, which discusses the prospects for aging in Brazil. Putting "prospects" and "aging" in the same sentence is already a challenge. Aging implies, above all, a decrease in prospects.

Argentinians still cherish—and very much so—Peronism, which has aged considerably in recent times, but still carries within it important elements for social stability, such as trade unionism. Nothing could be more outdated and therefore out of fashion here in Brazil. Combined with retirement benefits, the healthcare system, and the traditional work regime, we have been rejuvenating in a negative way, in terms of form and social solutions, with the State becoming increasingly distant. The elderly today find themselves excluded from any broader solutions.

In the movie The Last BlueIn a recent Brazilian production, the elderly are taken to a kind of colony because they cause too much expense for younger people. They are no longer useful to society. This, in reality, is the general theme of what has been happening. Although many elderly people continue to produce—and produce well—and we see this in the program. The Cheap Thrill of Old AgeIn Brazil, society not only segregates them but also devalues ​​their legacy. Experience loses its importance, and along with meritocracy and entrepreneurship, the characteristics of youth prevail. The results are different, of course, but the mentality remains the same.

Production is now driven by youth, not by the revolution or transformation of the past. The prospects for aging are not undergoing any transformation. They are being maintained as they are, a structure that only facilitates market gains and completely negates any possibility of planning for social welfare that could benefit older people. 

The world has become a place for the younger generation, but without plans in their heads. And there we have another contradiction: youth and transformations can and should coexist in the same sentence. They are typical characteristics. But, among the expected transformations, there are none that improve the life prospects of the elderly. All young people will be elderly one day. And this is a victory. It means they've arrived.

This is the best perspective that can exist: to create conditions so that aging comes in a smooth and fulfilling way. We are getting further and further away from that, and perhaps to achieve it we have to resurrect old things, like social welfare and retirement. I see no other way to make old age a happy time.

Miguel Paiva is 75 years old and has been a journalist since 1967.

Mario Vitor Santos

The ENEM essay points to a real and concrete option to combat ageism: Lula.

"Above all, Lula embodies the idea that love for a cause renews and rejuvenates, warding off time, loneliness, and depression."

"Perspectives on the aging of the Brazilian population" was the essay topic for the National High School Exam.

The topic immediately brings to mind the worsening economic hardship faced by today's elderly, exacerbated immensely by the unique reality of aging under the hegemony of neoliberal ideas.

It also refers to what represents a model of possibilities to use as an alternative to neoliberalism. Lula's trajectory, commitments, and especially his candidacy for re-election are the great hope of reversing the extremely difficult situation faced by the vast majority of the elderly, and the even more somber prospect that awaits the elderly of tomorrow.

At 80 years old, Lula is the elderly man who has become necessary, unique, and irreplaceable. He is the exception to the exception that proves the rule, in his defiance, almost mockery, of the impositions of age. An example of success, self-esteem, and self-care, Lula doesn't just offer himself. He reveals himself as indispensable. Much more than that, he answers the clamor of a country that, once again, sees in him the chance for a better future. Lula is the essential elderly man. Lula is the embodiment of class struggle. He is the ideal type who refutes the discarding of lived bodies—a discarding practiced by capitalism and made a creed by neoliberalism.

Lula represents the possibility of reversing the neoliberal model. This model undermines decent and universal social security and the Unified Health System, whose improvement is so necessary, especially for the elderly.

If Lula is elected, it will be necessary to reverse the stranglehold of informality that condemns current and future elderly people to an undignified old age. It is a task for the country's affirmation to mobilize workers to dismantle the various bottlenecks that, in a deliberate project, are strangling Social Security.

Only Lula's victory will provide the oxygen for this refounding, through quality public service, of true citizenship.

If anyone is capable of dispelling this shadow—the shadow of the precarious state of Social Security and the SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system)—that hangs over the present and future of everyone, it is Lula. Any other candidate will hasten the unforeseen devastation.

Lula, above all, embodies the idea that love for a cause renews and rejuvenates, warding off time, loneliness, and depression. Will he be the... rare bird And it serves as an inspiration for everyone, especially the elderly, but also the elderly of tomorrow, to move forward with all their might to defeat ageism. If this, in the end, recedes, it will not be the first breaking of taboos by a rebellious generation that, when its time came, became accustomed to imposing new habits.

Mario Vitor Santos is 70 years old and has been a journalist since 1980.

Jose Reinaldo Carvalho

Valuing the elderly in an ageist society that worships youth.

The rapid growth of the elderly population exposes structural flaws, inequality, and ageism in the country.

Fortunately, the essay topic for this year's National High School Exam (Enem) was "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society." Hopefully, this will help create a favorable climate and raise social awareness in the fight against the violation of the rights of the elderly population and against ageism.

Brazil is aging at an unprecedented rate. Apparently, it is not sufficiently prepared to deal with the consequences of this process. Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows that the number of people aged 60 or older jumped from 19,6 million in 2010 to more than 32 million in 2022, equivalent to about 15% of the population. In just over a decade, the country is expected to have more elderly people than children. This demographic transformation, which took more than a century in European nations, is occurring in just over 30 years in Brazil, without the social and economic structure keeping pace.

This is a structural and inevitable phenomenon: the fertility rate has fallen, life expectancy has increased, and the population profile is rapidly shifting towards older age groups. What should be a cause for celebration, since living longer is a civilizational achievement, is confronted with a series of socioeconomic and psychosocial distortions, becoming not a phenomenon characteristic of social strength, but of fragility. The country that idolizes youth seems not to know what to do with its own old age. And at the heart of this paradox lies a silent and persistent social disease: ageism, prejudice based on age.

Aging and exclusion

Increased longevity has profound effects on the healthcare system, social security, and the labor market. Population aging increases pressure on the Brazilian public health system (SUS), which must cope with chronic and multiple illnesses, requiring continuous monitoring and adequate infrastructure. Social security, in turn, faces financial imbalances.

In the labor market, exclusion is brutal. Thousands of elderly people are pushed into the informal sector, face difficulties finding new jobs, and suffer from precarious employment. Many survive on insufficient pensions, unable to cover basic expenses such as housing, food, and medicine. The result is the impoverishment of a growing segment of the population. Many fall into extreme poverty. 

The elderly are also victims of invisibility. Their experience, wisdom, and capacity for social contribution are systematically devalued in the name of a culture that exalts productivity and a youthful appearance. In a country where youth is sold as a privilege, a value, and a virtue, old age ends up being treated as a defect, and aging as proof of individual failure.

The chasm between the law and reality.

Since 2003, Brazil has had advanced legislation for the protection of the elderly population: the Statute of the Elderly Person. The text guarantees priority in service, ensures social benefits, criminalizes mistreatment, and establishes the right to dignified aging. On paper, it represents a civilizational milestone. In practice, however, its application is uneven and frequently ignored.

The lack of oversight, the absence of a specific budget, and widespread ignorance about the rights guaranteed make the Statute, in many cases, an empty promise. The effectiveness of the law depends on the political will of local governments and the capacity for articulation of civil society. 

In the field of health, the Unified Health System (SUS) is universal, but faces severe limitations. The lack of professionals specialized in geriatrics, the scarcity of rehabilitation programs, and the difficulty of accessing exams and medications directly affect the quality of life of the elderly. Long-term care services and support policies for family caregivers are still exceptions, restricted to a few cities. 

The social assistance network also reveals gaps. Many municipalities lack community centers, digital inclusion programs, or socialization spaces geared towards the elderly. This exacerbates the loneliness, isolation, and sense of abandonment that characterize aging in Brazil.

Ageism 

Ageism is the cruelest face of this scenario. It manifests itself in everyday gestures, jokes, stares, and policies that marginalize those who are aging. It's present in companies that avoid hiring people over 50, in the media that portrays the elderly as incapable, in the beauty industry that sells youth as a commodity, and even in medical discourse that identifies aging as a disease.

This prejudice has devastating effects. It undermines self-esteem, fosters depression, deepens isolation, and dehumanizes aging. Many elderly people end up confined to their homes, deprived of social interaction and without prospects for reintegration. The result is a lonely old age in a country that has not yet learned to value experience and time.

More than a cultural issue, ageism is a form of social exclusion that reinforces inequalities and violates basic principles of citizenship. By denying the value of older people, society denies part of its own history and compromises the collective future.

The urgency of changing mindsets and policies.

Overcoming this reality requires more than good intentions: it demands a profound transformation of mentality and effective action from the State. The fight against ageism must begin with education and communication, with public campaigns that show aging as a natural and fulfilling stage of life. It is necessary to dismantle the idea that productivity has an age limit and that a person's worth is measured by their appearance or physical ability.

Given the increasing number of elderly people and the shortcomings in promoting the rights of this population segment, it is urgent to develop consistent public policies that provide adequate medical care; offer opportunities to share their experiences, as well as to update and renew their learning. The elderly must be guaranteed the opportunity to contribute to society. This requires the adoption of effective laws and the implementation of public policies guaranteeing specific rights, as well as the broad involvement of the entire society in efforts to care for the elderly. Through policies and public opinion guidance, the State must strive to create a social environment favorable to the lives of the elderly in all dimensions, including associative life, political representation in different spheres, and broad access to cultural goods. The creation of support networks, participation in groups, and the claiming of their rights are ways to build a more active and less lonely old age.

In this sense, it is imperative to strengthen the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) for geriatric care with a focus on comprehensive attention; create a social protection network that includes community centers, home care programs, and support for family caregivers; and encourage the productive inclusion of the elderly, with employment and entrepreneurship policies adapted to their age group.  

It is also essential to ensure the effective implementation of the Statute of the Elderly, with a guaranteed budget, monitoring mechanisms, and exemplary punishments for those who violate its principles. The State, society, and families must share responsibility for care, recognizing aging as an essential part of human life. 

Growing old is an achievement. 

Longevity is one of humanity's greatest achievements. But, in order for it not to be seen as a burden, a disease, or a sin, the country needs to transform the way it views aging. A Brazil that aspires to development and prosperity must be able to offer dignity, autonomy, and recognition to all, regardless of age.

Aging is not a deviation or a deformity, but an evolution of the human being. It is a right, a cycle of life that should be lived fully and with respect. Valuing the elderly is valuing our own national history and preparing the future of a country that will inevitably be increasingly older, but can also be more just, wise, and humane. 

José Reinaldo Carvalho is 70 years old and has been a journalist since 1979.

Lejeune Mirham

Aging in Brazil

I wish that the vast majority of elderly men and women in Brazil could have the opportunity to grow old as I have.

It seems that time runs differently at different moments in our lives. When we are children and young people, and even at a certain stage of adulthood, it seems to pass more slowly. But, from a certain point onwards, when we realize that old age has arrived—and it's here to stay—the speed of time seems to accelerate. There are even studies that show this phenomenon.

Just "the other day," in December 2006, I turned 50. A modest celebration with my beloved daughter, practically a recent graduate, my ex-wife and great friend, a sister-in-law (now deceased), my beloved mother, and a close friend. And that was all. A time for simple and modest celebrations. But today I realize that I'm about to turn almost 70 (next December). And almost 20 years have passed—they went by like a flash.

Life hasn't been easy. I imagine that's true for most Brazilians. I even feel privileged to have managed to graduate, get a master's degree, and become a university professor. Always with two jobs, both outside the city where I chose to live and start a family — Campinas (I worked 30 years in São Paulo and 22 years in Piracicaba, at Unimep).

I can't complain. I'll be 69 years old on December 22nd. I'm in good health overall, even though I've had many scares throughout my life, always saved by science. I take all the usual precautions and medications recommended by doctors. I know very well that women live longer because they take care of themselves, they go to the doctor more often. I do that too. I don't neglect my health. My second marriage gave me a wife who looks after my eating habits and doesn't neglect that aspect of our lives.

I don't know if aging in a country like Brazil has a general pattern. It probably doesn't. I imagine that the vast majority of elderly men and women live with greater difficulty than those I have encountered in the almost seven decades of life I have lived so far. The vast majority of the elderly depend almost exclusively on the Unified Health System — SUS, one of the best in the world, by the way.

However, due to life and professional circumstances, I have always had access to the supplementary health system, which is a private system. It doesn't truly care about health, as I only seek medical attention when I am sick. My beloved mother, who passed away last June at the age of 91, was a patient of the SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system). The system truly cared for her health. They would call our home to remind us when she needed to go to the clinic for routine checkups, etc.

I've been working since I was 21. As the son of a lower-middle-class family, I entered the job market late. I also retired late. In total, I worked for 41 years. But I struggled to prove 35 years of social security contributions. In those more than four decades of work, there were 72 months of "gaps," without contributions. Negligence on the part of a young man at the time, who didn't think that one day the future would arrive and those months would be sorely missed.

Growing old in Brazil also means becoming a grandfather. And I think I became a grandfather more or less at the right time. At 58, my daughter gave me my first grandchild, and four years later, the second arrived—today both are 12 and 8 years old, respectively. Adorable and intelligent children. Voracious readers like their mother and grandfather. They love my immense library and, every week, when they come to our house or when I go to theirs, they show me the page they are on in the books they are reading that week. They are a source of great pride for our small family.

We didn't raise our daughter under any religious affiliation. No mythology or deity was present in her life until she depended on her parents for the formation of her conscience. After she "took flight on her own," the choices shifted, although I feel they never changed substantially.

This applies to my personal life as well. Since I was 18, when I became a communist and embraced dialectical materialism as a philosophy of life and historical materialism as a way of analyzing society, I have not had an absolute need for religiosity in my daily life. On the contrary, I have made my existence a life of study, reading, and research on the most diverse branches of science. I am proud of my library, which brings together 22 areas of knowledge among the more than 10 books I have acquired in these 50 years accumulating this object of daily desire.

Finally, I know that not everyone who grows old records their lives and the historical moments in which they find themselves within the societies they are part of, but I have always written and recorded facts and data. I have published hundreds, perhaps thousands, of short articles and essays in dozens of publications. And, since 2003, I have found myself a writer, now with 23 published works—some as editor, others as co-author. And that is how I intend to end my days on this planet, until the moment I return to the cosmic dust from whence we all came.

We don't know what tomorrow will bring. The only thing I know is that the path of aging is unstoppable. On the wall of one of the hallways in my house there are photos of my mother as a baby, a photo of me as a baby, my daughter, and my grandchildren. I have photos of my grandparents and my parents. Aging is inevitable, and we should all be prepared for it.

Certainly, we would like to live longer and in better conditions, with better health. In my case, living longer means continuing to fight for the same ideals I embraced when I was young, at 18, which remain alive and burning brightly within me—a flame I hope will never be extinguished—namely: having a just and egalitarian society, socialism, and proletarian power established in the country. Furthermore, I dream of writing many, many more books—or at least managing to publish the five that are already finished and for which there are no resources available yet (hahaha).

I wish the vast majority of elderly people in Brazil could have the opportunity to grow old as I did. It was never a bed of roses. Always in debt, taking out loans (I was a regular at the Caixa pawn shop...). But, thankfully, we managed to overcome all that. We raised an exceptional daughter, an exemplary citizen, a professional lawyer, and a mother. A politically conscious family. And a second wife, besides being beautiful, also combative and professionally very competent. To grow old like that, surrounded by conscious and kind people, surrounded by books and preaching socialist revolution every day on YouTube channels—isn't that what we all want?

Lejeune Mirham is 68 years old and has been working since he was 19.

Marcelo Auler

The uncertain future of the elderly.

The aging population exposes Brazil's lack of preparedness to guarantee dignity and sustenance for the elderly.

It is in everyday life, in the so-called routine of the citizen, that we feel how Brazilian society is no longer truly prepared for the greater longevity that science is guaranteeing to everyone. In the lines that form in a supermarket or pharmacy, one clearly perceives a certain "disdain" for the so-called third age.

Since the early 2000s, Brazilian legislation has mandated so-called "priority and preferential service" for people aged 60 or older in various situations. Theoretically, these citizens should be given priority. But this often doesn't happen.

Given the growth of the elderly population, which implies a greater number of seniors requiring preferential treatment, the bracelet jeitinho He invented the so-called "priority line," which often causes even longer delays for those who should have priority.

This detail about the lines in stores is a small example of society's unpreparedness for something inevitable: very soon, the elderly will outnumber young people or even adults under 60.

The issue of queues will be a less important factor compared to other aspects that seem inevitable, such as the "cost" of old age for society as a whole.

Even today, many elderly people, despite having contributed to Social Security, do not receive sufficient pensions to support themselves. Those who, for various reasons, have never acquired property face even greater difficulties.

This increases the number of people who, due to high rents in large cities, are now taking refuge in the suburbs (in precarious conditions) or in smaller towns in the interior. They are distancing themselves from their former social circles.

While it was common until recently to find retirees helping to support their families, today it is easier to come across cases of elderly people who join their children or other dependents to combine their incomes and, together, survive — albeit with difficulty.

This situation tends to worsen as we realize that, each day, the number of Social Security contributors decreases, in the same proportion as the number of workers with professional registration decreases.

The precariousness of work will lead to greater difficulties in survival for future generations. Many elderly people will not have sufficient pensions to support themselves, nor will they have opportunities in a job market that is becoming more automated and robotic every day.

Therefore, the survival of the elderly in the future needs to become a pressing and permanent concern for our governments. It is directly linked to the issue of precarious work, which has become the preferred option for young people and new professionals in general—but not only that.

It may also depend on new social programs that include, for example, special funds to replace or supplement social security contributions, which guarantee the livelihood of those with insufficient income.

In other words, those who are currently bothered by the size of the "priority" lines need to worry about the mechanisms that society will have to guarantee the survival of the elderly in the future—among whom they themselves may be included.

Marcelo Auler is 70 years old and has been a journalist for 53 years.

Regina Zappa

We need to look carefully at the most fulfilling moment in life.

With luck, young people will grow old. With awareness and political engagement, they will prepare a future where there is respect and dignity for those older people who want freedom and autonomy.

I recently watched an Argentinian film called "27 Nights," directed by Daniel Hendler, in which actress Marilu Marino plays an 83-year-old woman who is admitted to a clinic by her daughters for 27 nights because they believed their mother was no longer psychiatrically capable of living alone. The film is based on the true story of Natalia Cohen, an Argentinian artist and writer, a free and independent woman who is committed against her will and with questionable psychiatric reports. 

Freedom, aging, and autonomy, as well as the idea of ​​aging with dignity, are themes in the film that invite reflection, especially for a generation where old age is already a reality. But it is also important for younger generations to think about the subject. That's why it caught my attention when a younger friend I was talking to last Sunday looked at a message on her cell phone and told me, with astonishment: "My son just finished the 2025 ENEM exam and said that the essay section was about aging and ageism."

The fact that the topic emerged in an academic setting, inviting the candidates, most of whom are young, to reflect on the subject is extremely important. After all, writing requires thinking. "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society." What will the university applicants have written about a subject so far removed from their reality? 

In recent decades, we have witnessed the strengthening of important movements related to structural prejudices in our society against Black people, against the LGBTQIA+ community, and against women, but anti-ageism has not yet consolidated itself as a societal movement.

In 25 years, experts say, the proportion of elderly people in Brazil will double, and this will put even more pressure on the country for a healthcare system that can treat the poorest elderly, for a work environment that welcomes those who are still able to work, making use of all their experience, and for a society aware that caring for the elderly is not just a social and humanitarian issue directed at one generation, but a global challenge. Only with this awareness across the entire population can we call for the adoption of public policies and demand greater involvement from the State.

I feel quite comfortable with my age; I've already reached 70, I have a pension, but I still work a lot in areas I enjoy and I interact with many colleagues of my generation, but also of younger generations, in a media outlet, Brasil 247, that knows how to value the experience and knowledge of older people. The mirror may not reflect the image we have of ourselves when life is lived with enthusiasm and joy. Many of us still feel young and dynamic and capable of living intensely, like the character in that Argentinian film.

Work brings a serene feeling of satisfaction, and the company of family, friends, and colleagues wards off loneliness and strengthens the desire to continue.

But I think of the thousands of elderly people in our country who haven't had the same opportunity to age safely, supported by a health plan or a job that suits their greater physical fragility, or by their social environment. It is, above all, for them that the ENEM essay serves. It serves to raise awareness among young people about the need to implement laws that defend the rights of the elderly. Yes, they exist, such as the Statute of the Elderly, from 2003, or the National Policy for the Elderly, a law from 1994, but they need to work.

Hopefully, young people will grow old. With awareness and political engagement, they will prepare a future where there is respect and dignity for those older people who want freedom and autonomy, but also for those who can no longer care for themselves. All phases of life can be good, and each has its pains and joys. It is up to all of us to advance the civilizing process and allow the joys to outweigh the pains in the most fulfilling moment of life.

Regina Zappa is 70 years old and has been working professionally for almost half a century.

Alex Solnik

Growing old? I'm against it!

Happy are the trees and the turtles.

I don't know whose idea it was that we have to grow old. Many attribute it to God; others claim it's because the Earth rotates and, if it stops, you know what will happen: we could fall into the abyss of darkness.

Whoever it was, it was a terrible idea.

I'm not going to be radical. Getting a little older isn't all bad. It would be boring to be around three years old forever, living with pacifiers and baby bottles. We could age until we're about 30 or 40. Everyone would have the right to press a button that would make them stop aging from the age they wanted.

I'm not advocating for my own benefit. I'm defending this argument for the good of all. A nation of old people is useless. Perhaps that's why this superior (or astral) force decided that the solution would be to kill the old people. And the old women. Got old? Die!

Millennia later, it's time to acknowledge that it was an inadequate solution. Instead of killing, it would have been more intelligent to stop aging before the person becomes useless.

Don't ask me how to do this now, but back when seemingly ordinary people had long conversations with God high in the mountains, it was possible.

Another good solution would be to apply the same formula to trees as to human beings. Many of them, over a thousand years old, are stronger than ever, continue to produce flowers and fruits, and show no signs of weakness. But, in return, they never move. Is that life?!

Some people envy turtles, which live happily for two hundred years. Except that, for two hundred years, they carry their house on their backs!

Now that Inês is dead, here's some advice I'll give you: don't be in a hurry to grow old. Don't fall for the myth that, like wine, the older the better. Or the older, the wiser. Don't fall for the story that "the old devil is smarter not because he's the devil, but because he's old." And even less for the nonsense that it's "the best age." Or the "third age." As if there were a "fourth." Nor the idea that riding the bus and subway for free is worth it.

I also advise pressuring members of parliament and senators to allocate funds for research on "zero aging." Let the scientists figure it out! They've already invented so much, it wouldn't hurt to invent something else.

I don't think that if people stop aging, the Earth will stop spinning.

Alex Solnik is 76 years old and has been a journalist for 60 years.

Moses Mendes

The cruelty of the ENEM essay topic.

Adults who see no future for young people expect them to reflect on the horrors that await them in old age.

Mature adults have always felt that young people never knew, and never wanted to know, what might happen to their youth the following month. Today, they wouldn't want to know what awaits them next week.

That's how it happens, even if mature adults were once detached young people. Many of these mature adults are the authors of texts that are repeated on the internet, with journalistic or academic approaches, or mere guesses, stating that Generation Z youth don't care about their own immediate future.

There would be futility in trying to see further ahead with a minimum of hope or optimism. A summary phrase of this behavior can be taken from the many statements of young people about the feeling of disillusionment: dedicate yourself to the moment without commitment, dreams and fantasies, because tomorrow is depressing.

Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, are supposedly witnessing depressing scenarios because they are the most disillusioned and depressed of the post-war generations. They are, by the most commonly used cliché, the digital natives.

This generation, which may already be nearing thirty, makes up the majority of today's Enem participants. Of the 4,8 million registered students, well over half are between 16 and 19 years old. That's 2,6 million.

They were prompted by this call in the essay topic: write about "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society." The young person was called upon to reflect on issues that mature adults are unable to resolve.

The topic of distant old age is almost cruel to those who see no prospect of a future in the coming months. But they are asked to talk about the elderly—because no one can be called old anymore—looking at those around them in this society that mistreats old age.

You, who no longer think like your parents and grandparents did, who no longer romantically dedicate yourselves to the classic educational path that would lead to a profession and stability—you must tell us how you view old age.

Put yourselves in the situation of today's elderly and try to see in perspective — because that is what the essay topic requires — what will become of you in 40, 50, or 60 years.

There's no escaping an issue that's been glossed over by everyone, from the public sector to institutions, at all levels, for centuries and in all recent decades. But it's still a cruelty to young people.

Generations of adults already approaching old age, who provide precarious care for the elderly when they do so at all, are asking young people to reflect on old age—both individual and non-transferable, and also on collective old age.

This young generation, which in most of the white world has no memory of wars and major traumas, is invited to anticipate a critical portrait of the old age to come, which may be worse than that of the 20th century and the one that presents itself before their eyes today.

Some will say that we all have, in our family or close circle of acquaintances, many young people who subvert this profile associated with disillusionment with the chaotic and disoriented world of mature people. But it is not them we are talking about.

Research suggests that the generation taking the ENEM exam is, among the last in its youth phase, the one most ready to give up on school, work, and appeals to improve professionally. Because the future has hidden behind shadows cast by mature adults.

But even so, the ENEM exam invites them to the sacrifice of writing about old age. The appeal for them to reflect through writing, which is also more of a sacrifice for them, is compounded by the fact that they are asked to stop and think about old age.

Crowded subways and buses, pointless competition, routine, an insecure and depressed boss, a career that no longer exists as they said it did — and the ENEM (Brazilian National High School Exam) asking them to reflect on old age, the Statute of the Elderly, loneliness, ageism, abandonment, retirement, and the inability of the State, which already fails to care for children, to care for its elderly.

The ENEM exam theme suggests that young people need to understand that correcting what is wrong and doesn't work will be their responsibility later on.

The generations that have failed so far feel entitled to tell young people that they have a mission to envision a future with increasingly older people. And perhaps much worse than the world we have today.

Mature adults in this increasingly discriminatory, racist, pro-gun, and fascist world expect young people to at least say that things cannot remain as they are.

This essay you've read so far was written by an elderly person who, when young, did almost everything that Generation Z intends to do or not do, through action or contemplation and inertia, because they too thought the future was depressing.

But you already know that older generations are—and always will be—demanding from younger generations what they themselves cannot improve, straighten out, or solve. The world that awaits them has been built by today's adults.

Old age will always be a topic that's often passed on to others, including in the ENEM essay.

Moisés Mendes is 72 years old and has been a journalist since he was 17.

Paulo Moreira Leite

Me and the machine

And that's how I got to where I am, happier and more comfortable than I imagined, ready for another one.

Summoned to take an out-of-season college entrance exam, and at my age of 72, I found myself stuck in front of the... laptop for hours on end.

After much deception, I decided to face the keyboard and screen of this... laptop whose age has been lost in time.

As one can easily imagine, their company was extremely useful for my livelihood, and even for some political discussions with friends and even companions – yes, companions – inseparable throughout a joyful and tumultuous existence in these tropical regions, less sad than young observers imagined for very ambitious undertakings during our colonial decline.

Through this machine, I learned to travel the world, to converse with strangers, both men and women, formulating phrases and sentences that, I now recognize, protected what little lucidity I had left amidst so much madness and misery.

And that's how I got to where I am, happier and more comfortable than I ever imagined, ready for another one. Always.

Any questions?

Paulo Moreira Leite is 72 years old and works Since the age of 16.

Renato Aroeira

Old age
Growing old is wonderful, but in a society where the vast majority are deprived of almost everything, aging calmly, healthily, and peacefully ends up being yet another privilege.

I was urged to do what 3,5 million Brazilians (almost all very young) did a few days ago on the ENEM exam: write an essay about old age. "Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society" was the title of the exam. Fine, I even have the right to speak on this, I've been elderly for 11 years (I'm 71).

First of all, getting older is good. The experience, the acquired skills, the memories and stories, children, grandchildren... But, from a more confessional point of view, it's not always easy. Breath is short and fatigue is long, because time and years of smoking take their toll. Reactions are slower, reasoning too, because of the loss of elasticity, muscle mass, and neurons. We lack patience. Time takes away some friends; distance and difficulties in getting around distance others. Vision, digestion, circulation, liver function, joints... everything diminishes or worsens, except for the addiction, which increases. Statistics, our friend in youth, become our enemy!

I'm not complaining, far from it. Getting older is actually good, and I'm grateful. I'm optimistic, I take it with humor, I follow Zeca Pagodinho's lead, and I let life take me where it will. I simply observe that there are problems to solve, precautions to take... and some of these precautions can be expensive or difficult, even inaccessible. This brings us to the subject... those perspectives. There are several different aspects ('aspect' comes from the same Greek verb as 'perspectives'), from the increase in life expectancy and the investment needed to maintain pensions for longer, to the social support that the State needs to give its citizens, especially the elderly. Transportation, daily care, health, affection, food, leisure... Like in a meme, what do we, the elderly, do? Where do we live? What do we eat? The liberal State—well, the Market—abhors these questions and this discussion for obvious reasons. Why spend money on people who, besides being disposable, no longer produce anything, in the Market's opinion? Part of the ageism that is rampant in society stems from this irritation at the top of the pyramid, dismantling and demonizing the very institution of retirement and, consequently, its beneficiaries.

Yes, aging is wonderful, but in a society where the vast majority are deprived of almost everything, aging calmly, healthily, and peacefully ends up being just another privilege, another "exclusive release." And, for the rest of society, it's a serious problem. We want affection, we want respect for ourselves and our experience, but we want more government support. We want more public policies aimed at these people who have arrived here "somewhat" heroically. It's inhumane and, frankly, incredibly foolish not to properly care for such a significant economic/social/emotional asset... That's right, I'm referring to us, the elderly of Brazil!

Renato Aroeira is 71 years old and has been drawing professionally since he was 12 years old.

Aquiles Lins

In the ENEM exam, a generation that will not retire reflects on aging.

The theme of the 2025 ENEM exam proposes reflection on aging and challenges young people to think about the future in a country that is aging without guaranteeing care.

The theme of the 2025 ENEM essay — “Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society” — invited millions of young Brazilians to reflect on what seems very distant from their own reality: old age. In a country that is aging rapidly, but still worships youth and undervalues ​​experience, the exam proposed an urgent debate about the future we all share.

With 4,8 million registered participants, the ENEM exam maintained its tradition of addressing often-neglected social issues, such as racism, ableism, and ageism—the latter being prejudice against age. The choice of theme demonstrates sensitivity and relevance. Talking about aging is talking about respect, empathy, and collective planning.

And this planning also harbors profound contradictions in our country and in how we treat aging lives. Since the 2019 Pension Reform, retirement has become an increasingly distant and uncertain horizon. The new rules established a minimum age of 65 for men and 62 for women, with at least 15 years of contributions. To receive the full benefit, the worker will need to contribute for 40 years—a scenario that, for a large part of Brazilians facing unemployment and informality, is simply unattainable.

Young Brazilian students were asked to discuss perspectives that also involve social inequality. Brazil is a country that is aging before reaching an average standard of living for its population and that still does not guarantee dignity to its elderly—neither in terms of social security nor socially. But there are signs of change. The federal government has been implementing the so-called Care Economy, which recognizes the economic and social value of activities aimed at maintaining life and well-being—caring for children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and the sick.

Through the National Care Policy and the National Care Plan, the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) seeks to institutionalize the right to care and combat gender inequalities, since care work—paid or unpaid—falls predominantly on women. The Brazil that Cares program, for example, supports families with dependent elderly people and values ​​care workers, recognizing that a more just society is one that shares responsibilities and values ​​those who sustain daily life.

These policies represent an important step for the country that Brazil is becoming: a rapidly aging country that, if it wants to be truly democratic, needs to learn to care. To care for others and for oneself. To care for today's elderly and prepare the ground for tomorrow's.

By proposing this theme, the ENEM (Brazilian National High School Exam) invited a generation to reflect on its own future—a generation that may not retire, but that will need to fight to grow old with dignity. This year's essay is a mirror of the Brazil we are and a warning about the Brazil we could become.

The question is: what kind of country do we want to build, now that we are aging as a nation? Will we be a society that discards the elderly, as it does with everything it considers obsolete, or a society that recognizes in them the living memory of our history? Aging is inevitable; aging with respect must be a national consensus. And we need to start choosing it now.

Aquiles Lins is 44 years old and intends to retire at some point, but he doesn't have that certainty.