Several reports on OAs produced in both Spain and Argentina show a significant demographic weight in relation to other age groups and a great socioeconomic heterogeneity (Pérez Díaz et al., 2022; Amadasi et al., 2022; Oddone, 2018). These older people are considered both as active agents of development and change given their potential participation in the social, political and economic life of the country and, at the same time, as a group whose care and protection requires vast public resources. Both countries recognise the over-ageing of their populations, in that there are more and more people over 80, with specific needs and demands stemming from the ageing process. According to the census data published by INE (2022) on the structure of the Spanish population, 20.08% are 65 or over, and the projections indicate that this will reach 31.44% by the year 2050, with a dependency rate of 58.7%, the second highest in Europe. Many of these people live in urban municipalities, accounting for over 60%. While Argentina has a lower percentage, adults over 65 also weigh significantly within its population structure, presenting an upward trend. According to available data (INDEC, 2022a), 11.8% of the population is over 65 years old, while projections for 2040 see an increase to 15.2%. As of 2022, the dependency ratio is 51.3% (Fig. 3).

Dependent People and feminisation in Older Adults over 65 years old, Spain and Argentina. Source: prepared by the authors in base INE, 2022 & INDEC, 2022a

The main causes of this significant increase are the reduction in mortality and morbidity, the growth in life expectancy and the decline in both the birth rate and migration flows, as well as the arrival in this age group the of so-called baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964 and who represented a demographic explosion). As with the Spanish example, most older people in Argentina live in urban populations.

Similarly, the population transformation has been accompanied by a feminisation of ageing, which increases as the age goes up. While the percentage of women in the general Spanish population is 51.04%, they represent 56.6% of OAs and 63.2% of those over 80 (INE, 2023a). Argentina evidences the same tendency. Some 51.7% of the general population are women, but according to census data (INDEC, 2022a), that rises to 57% of those over 60 years of age, 60.2% of those over 70, and 66% of those over 80 (Fig. 1).

However, although the life expectancy of women in both countries is higher than that of men (85.06 and 79.5 years respectively in Spain; 79 and 72 respectively in Argentina), so is the probability of living alone. The fact that widowhood is more common among women has influenced the structure of households and at the same time affects their social conditions for living and health. In 2020, there were almost five million people living alone in Spain, 43.6% of them aged 65 or over, and of these, 70.9% were women (INE, 2021). Argentina shows a similar trend: a high incidence of single-person households made up of older people, especially women. And out of the total of single-person households (18%), 39% are comprised of men and women, and these, more than half are comprised of women (INDEC, 2019).

While women live longer than men, they do so in worse social and health conditions as they are at greater risk of being poor and suffer from more diseases, especially chronic ones. Moreover, and despite the at-risk-of-poverty rate being lower than for other age groups in both countries,Footnote 3 older women’s pensions are lower than men’s. In Spain, this difference is as high as 32%. Whereas in January 2023, the average pension was 1,437.36 euros/month for men, the monthly amount received by women was 964.15 euros. And three in every four of the 15% of pensioners who receive less than 700 euros a month are women. In the case of Argentina, 70% of those receiving minimum pensions in January 2022 were women, resulting in a 35% gap in retirement incomes between men and women. On average, women received Arg$44,616/month in retirement (equivalent to 378.67 euros/month), as against an average of Arg$68,632 for men (equivalent to 582.51 euros/month). A large part of this differential is due in both countries to many women receiving a widow’s or non-contributory pension, which is substantially lower. The great recession and impact of COVID-19, for their part, have had negative repercussions not only on health, but also on incomes. According to INE (2023c), which takes account of the Living Conditions Survey (ECV), there was a significant increase in the risk of poverty and social exclusion rate in among OAs, rising from 14.5% in 2019 to 20.6% in 2022 among men, and from 14.4% to 20.6% among women. The same trend has been seen in Argentina due to the inflationary crisis, which, together with the impact of the pandemic, has pushed up the poverty index among OAs from 11.3% in 2018 to 13.8% in 2021.

The percentage of time lived in good health is different between the two countries. Women in Spain enjoy 51.5 years of good health, compared with 62.7 for men. By contrast, the number of years lived in good health is higher for women than for men in Argentina (64 v. 61 years). Even so, women report a higher incidence of chronic diseases and more problems with functional autonomy, which is linked to performing daily activities such as shopping, cooking, getting dressed and grooming – or even eating with others. As other studies (Payne et al., 2020; Jura & Kozak, 2016) show, many these health problems that older people present with are related to food and diet: diabetes, hypertension, cholesterolemia – and above all malnutrition and obesity. Obesity in particular, the main manifestation of malnutrition due to excess weight, is also more prevalent in this age group. In the case of Spain, according to the National Health Survey (MS, 2017), while the prevalence is 17.4% in adults over 18 and higher among men, the relationship is reversed in those over 65, reaching 24.9% in women and 18.7% in men. National Survey on Risk Factors (ENFR) data (MS, 2019) for Argentina reveals a similar trend for obesity, with a higher prevalence in OAs (27.7%) than the general population (25.3%), but unlike Spain, no significant disparities in obesity rates are observed between older men and women (Fig. 4).

Prevalence of obesity in total population and older than 65 years old, Spain and Argentina. Source: prepared by the authors in base National Health Survey (MS, 2017) and National Survey on Risk Factors (MS, 2019)

On the other hand, we do see protein-energy malnutrition, the causes of which are related to physical and/or economic difficulties in obtaining and/or preparing adequate food. In Spain this is reported as one of the most frequent geriatric syndromes given its high prevalence and the fact that it varies according to the state of health and level of dependence for daily life activities (Salvá Casanovas & Serra Rexach, 2008).Footnote 4 However, there are hardly any data on undernutrition outside the hospital setting. Argentina, for instance, has no data on protein-energy malnutrition in the older people –because obesity is the most prevalent form of malnutrition. Official figures at the population level come from the national survey of nutrition and health (ENNyS) conducted in 2018, but that only collects data on undernutrition in children and adolescents, not on obesity in the over-18 population.

Although, as we have seen above, some aspects of the ageing process differ in the two countries, the data converge in showing that OAs have a growing demographic weight, with a feminisation that increases with age and the implication that many women live alone in old age. There is similar agreement that the bulk of their income depends on state pension systems, with a notable difference between the amounts received by women and men in favour of the latter. The data also confirm a greater impoverishment of this age group in recent years. As regards health, OAs in both countries present a higher prevalence of food-related problems, manifesting particularly in obesity.

Living conditions are determined to a large extent by the price trajectory of basic goods and services, with the cost of housing, utilities, food and medicines being particularly relevant among older people. In general, certain privations are accentuated and become more acute in old age. In the context of the latest international crisis, the increase in food prices has been considerable in both countries. In Spain, prices rose by 15.7% in 2022 alone, while pensions went up by just 2.5%. In Argentina, on top of the conditions created by the global energy crisis, food prices have risen as a result of inflationary processes driven by domestic economic dynamics. Thus, the increase in food prices in 2022 was 98.4% (a monthly average of 5.7%), and even with the automatic system in place for increasing pensions according to the course of inflation and income support, the minimum pension was raised by the considerably lower figure of 73.3%. In both countries, therefore, food purchasing power has significantly weakened (Fig. 5).

Rising pension and food prices in Spain and Argentina, 2022–2023. Source: prepared by the authors

While it is true that some statistical sources such as the Spanish Consumption Panel or the National Health Survey in Argentina identify OAs as people who ‘eat better’ due to the greater volume of plant-based foods they buy and/or report compared with other food groups (Cerdeño, 2020; Tamburini & Zapata, 2022; Ballesteros et al., 2022), the truth is that relative to 2010, they consume fewer fresh products, vegetables/fruits, fish, meats and oils. However, it is not clear whether the lower consumption of certain products is due to the loss of purchasing power resulting from rising inflation or whether it has led to specific forms of food deprivation. The information available comes from indirect proxy data on situations of deprivation. For example, Spain’s ECV (Living Conditions Survey) contains only one question on food deprivation (not being able to afford a meal of meat, fish or vegetarian equivalent at least every two days), which has been taken as an indicator of minimum protein intake. According to the latest ECV (2022), 5.2% of Spaniards would be in this situation, almost three times more than the 2014 figure of 1.8% (INE, 2023b). For its part, Argentina's Household Expenditure and Income Survey (ENGHo) defines the foods and quantities that make up the basic food basket – the set of foods and drinks that meet nutritional, kilocaloric and protein requirements, and whose composition reflects the eating habits of a group of households whose consumption covers these needs. The value of this basket is used as a reference for extreme poverty indices, which seek to establish periodically through the Consumer Price Index (IPC) whether households and the individuals they comprise have sufficient income to cover a basic food basket capable of meeting a minimum threshold of energy and protein needs. According to data from the end of 2022, 14.5% of Argentine OAs are poor (lacking access to basic services, including food), and within this cohort 1.7% are considered extremely poor or indigent – a figure that has doubled since 2016, as it has in Spain, where 7.4% were considered poor and 0.9% indigent (INDEC, 2022b).

In both countries, the most specific data on FI are from third sector/university reports and most of them focus on autonomous communities in Spain (Moragues Faus et al., 2022; Ayala et al., 2022; Novo Vázquez & Alonso Ibañez, 2023), or on specific metropolitan areas in Argentina (Amadasi et al., 2022). At the state level, there is scarcely any information on FI in older people at the national level. For example, a recent study carried out by the UB/Carasso Foundation using the FIES scale (FAO/UNICEF/WHO, among others) and entitled Feeding a sustainable future (Moragues Faus & Magaña-González 2022), has shown that 13.3% of Spanish households experience FI, affecting more than six million people. The percentage of households in this situation before COVID-19 was 11.9%. Unfortunately, little data is provided by age, even though in terms of household type, the survey includes single-person households with occupants over 65 years of age. This report indicates that, of those households experiencing moderate or severe FI, 31.9% are in the ‘other households’ group, 20% are couple households with children, 18.9% are single-person households under 65, followed by single-person households over 65, childless couples and single-parent households. The picture is similar in Argentina, as the data on FI are provided by the Observatory of Argentine Social Debt (ODSA) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), who use the same scale. According to this source, 18.6% of households had FI in 2019, rising to 22.1% in 2020 and falling to 18.6% in 2022. In the case of the over-60 s, the 2019 data show that 12.7% suffered FI.

This lack of information is despite the fact that both states have declared themselves guarantors of the right to FS by signing and ratifying international guidelines (the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – ICESCR – in 1976; the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition in 1974 and the Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs – in 2015), recognising the right of everyone to be protected from hunger and to enjoy healthy food. Specifically, the SDGs call not only for ‘ending hunger, achieving FS and improved nutrition’; in relation to OAs, they propose to prevent older people from falling into poverty and call for flexible retirement policies, tax-funded minimum pensions, social security and access to health services and long-term care (WHO, 2020).

As well as these FS-related guidelines, both states have also subscribed to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which includes ‘access to food and adequate nutrition for all older persons’ (UN, 2002, p. 33) among its objectives. In particular, Article 50 of the Spanish Constitution itself (1978) states that the public authorities must guarantee economic sufficiency through adequate pensions, promoting public welfare by means of a system of social services addressing citizens’ specific issues of health, housing, culture and leisure. Actions have also coalesced through the National Gerontological Plan of 1988–1992, which already adopts the perspective of active ageing and preferential care in the home environment, a programme for the promotion of personal autonomy and care for people in a situation of dependency. More recently, within the framework of Law 39/2006, we find the White Paper on Active Ageing (2011) and the National Strategy for Active Ageing and Good Treatment of Older People (2017). Argentina has also incorporated in its constitution – since its 1949 reform, in article 75, paragraph 23 – the rights of older people to assistance, housing, food, clothing, health care, recreation, work, peace and quiet, and respect. Two laws have recently been passed that express their agreement with the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (2022): Law No. 27.360 ratifying it, and Law No. 27.700, by which it acquires constitutional status. Specific guidelines and programmes have also been established for the planning of policies aimed at the older population. As can be seen, these documents explicitly state that older people should have access to adequate food, water, housing, clothing and health care through the provision of income and the support of their families and community. However, ratification of the guidelines implies that states must incorporate them not only in the design but also in the implementation of their policies.

Despite the lack of specific indicators on FI, and in response to the legal frameworks and programmes outlined above, both Spain and Argentina deploy a series of measures intended to guarantee the rights of OAs following the approaches to active and healthy ageing provided by international guidelines. While the active ageing policies designed in both countries are aimed at promoting health with a rights-based approach, their priority objectives do not include the target population’s right to FS. Their governments consider indirect measures, such as those that supposedly guarantee FS. The protection systems, mainly through pensions, should mitigate the effects of inequalities accumulated over a lifetime and reduce the likelihood of older people living in households afflicted by poverty. In Spain, the pension system is the public policy with the highest coverage in this population: 90% of the over-65 s have some kind of pension, with retirement and widowhood predominating (INSS, 2024). Argentina has a similarly high coverage: almost 90% of the older population has a retirement or other state pension. However, there are notable heterogeneities among households in the lower socioeconomic strata, with just over 50% of retirement and other state pensions providing only a minimum income that does not cover access to basic foodstuffs. In both cases, we have seen that retirement and pensions show marked differences for men and women, with the latter’s being more than 30% lower.

In addition to income protection measures, Spain has food-related programmes involving various ministerial departments – such as the 2005 ‘Strategy for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention’ (NAOS Strategy) and the 2011 ‘Food Security and Nutrition Law’. These adopt a health perspective and aim to put on the agenda 1) the prevalence of obesity as a disease and risk factor, and 2) the recognition and effective protection of the right to FS – understanding this, above all, as the right to know the potential risks associated with a food and/or any of its ingredients throughout the food chain (food safety) rather than the right to access adequate food in all its dimensions. These programmes and strategies, though primarily targeted at children, adolescents, pregnant women and the most vulnerable groups, are addressed towards the general population without any specific mention of OAs. In Argentina, different state departments implement measures aimed at FS, but in contrast to the emphasis the Spanish state puts on food safety, here the safety measures are implemented through the regulation of food production, marketing, industrial processing, distribution and sale, with the regulatory epicentre being the Argentine Food Code (Bonet et al., 2022). And those related to access are concentrated in the Ministry of Social Development. Argentina has a long history of emergency food programmes (Abeyá Gilardón, 2016; Feuermann, 2023), but following the 2001 crisis, the ‘National Food Security Plan’ (PNSA) was created, including among its target population OAs in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability. Then in 2019, the fight against FI was announced as one of the main policies for overturning the situation of food inaccessibility that resulted from the inflation suffered from 2015 to 2019. As part of the PNSA, the ‘Argentina against Hunger’ Plan recognises FI as the most pressing social problem and also embraces the older population within its target population. It currently focuses on food security and sovereignty, introducing the requirement for access to sufficient, varied, healthy and safe food. Among its components are traditional measures such as the strengthening of third sector community canteens and outdoor cafes, which assist people in their community spaces, focusing on children and adolescents, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, OAs and adults in situations of social vulnerability, along with relatively novel measures such as the ‘Alimentar Card’.Footnote 5 But for the most part, they seek to satiate hunger by promoting the consumption of ultra-processed food, contradicting guidelines on adequate food (Abeyá Gilardón, 2016). Moreover, in an attempt to deal with non-emergency situations, nutritional policies such as the Healthy Argentina Plan (2009) and the National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating and Prevention of Obesity (2016) have been implemented by the health sector, but all oriented towards the general population and with nothing to say about the older population. As one action aimed at the older population, the 2022 manual ‘Self-care of the Older Person in the decade of healthy ageing’ stands out, elaborating a series of guidelines that include adequate food. In Argentina, therefore, the problems linked to the economic inaccessibility of food are associated with other vulnerable populations, leaving specific needs and problems related to this age group invisible.

Despite these conceptual differences, public policies, programmes and social services directed at FS are limited in both countries because they are either focused on specific age groups (such as mothers and children) or restricted to emergency situations. In all cases, food is understood as a risk factor rather than a set of actions around food that, depending on availability, access and use, becomes in itself an indicator of poverty and a social determinant of health and disease (Payne et al., 2020; Kopparapu et al., 2020; Campanera et al., 2023).

It should also be noted that the guidelines of international organisations call on member states not only to ensure that their food systems are healthy and inclusive – meaning that they must have food that is affordable, nutritious, safe and suitable for the entire population – but also that they are sustainable and resilient, and therefore environmentally friendly and able to cope with any type of crisis. But they also call for the public's participation in making decisions that affect their food. Perhaps because sustainability, cultural acceptability and citizen agency are subsequent additions to the initial dimensions of FS (availability, accessibility, use and stability) (Moragues Faus et al., 2022), concerns about them are recent and barely go beyond the discursive level in some food guides aimed at the general population. In both countries, these guidelines promote the consumption of fresh, minimally processed, home-cooked, seasonal and local foods. This is the case with the Food Guidelines for the Spanish Population (SENC, 2016) and the Food Guidelines for the Argentine Population (MS, 2016). In this sense, although they show a certain institutional interest in moving towards more sustainable food systems, the truth is that they do not indicate how they are going to guarantee the right to adequate food for all people, including the most vulnerable OAs, in the face of growing precarization.