Gwangju City Obtains Re-Certification as an 'Age-Friendly City'

Maintain Membership Status for 5 Years Until 2027

Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kang Gi-jung) announced on the 6th that it has received re-certification as an ‘Age-friendly City’ from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Gwangju has been actively working to address the rapid aging population issue.

Starting with the enactment of the ‘Ordinance on the Creation of an Age-friendly City’ in 2019, Gwangju gathered opinions through expert advisory meetings, inter-agency collaboration meetings, and the Age-friendly City Creation Committee, and established the first 3-year basic plan (2020?2022) for the creation of an Age-friendly City in 2020, joining the WHO Age-friendly Cities Network for the first time.

Joining the ‘Age-friendly City’ network is an international recognition that the city acknowledges various social issues related to aging and is committed to making multifaceted efforts to resolve them.

Since then, Gwangju has faithfully implemented the 3-year action plan and evaluated the progress to enhance the execution capability of the ‘Age-friendly City’ initiatives.

According to a survey conducted last year by the Gwangju-Jeonnam Research Institute targeting about 700 Gwangju citizens, the age-friendliness increased in all areas suggested by the WHO guidelines, including jobs, social participation, and care welfare, compared to the first phase in 2020.

Based on the achievements and evaluation results of the first phase, Gwangju finalized the second basic plan (2023?2027) this year with the vision of ‘Creating a Healthy and Vibrant City with Tomorrow and a Life of Dignity,’ establishing 52 detailed tasks across five areas: ▲Jobs ▲Social Participation & Culture ▲Care & Human Rights ▲Health & Medical Care ▲Living Environment.

This plan consists of feasible and sustainable tasks reflecting the unique characteristics of Gwangju, which aims to be an ‘Age-friendly City.’ The policy implementation process will be monitored, and a bottom-up public-private promotion system will be established to incorporate evaluations and opinions from seniors and citizens.

With the finalized plan, Gwangju submitted a re-certification application to WHO in February and succeeded in re-certification, maintaining its membership for the next five years.

Ryu Mi-su, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau of Gwangju City, said, “This re-certification confirms that Gwangju has a continuous commitment to creating an age-friendly city and is effectively addressing urban aging issues. We will do our best to create a society where seniors can participate healthily and actively in the community and be respected.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Age-friendly City’ is a global project promoted by WHO since 2006 to effectively respond to worldwide aging and urbanization issues.

To receive WHO Age-friendly City certification, cities must meet international standards in various areas such as social participation, transportation, housing, and health services as set by WHO. Starting with New York in 2010, over 1,500 cities in 51 countries worldwide have joined the network. In South Korea, 45 local governments including Gwangju, Seoul, Busan, and Jeju currently participate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.