Key points
- 1 in 6 people aged 60 and over — 15.7% — were subjected to some form of abuse in the past year (WHO, 2017 review of 52 studies in 28 countries).
- Elder abuse is a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, within a relationship where there is an expectation of trust (WHO).
- Psychological abuse was the most commonly reported type (11.6%), followed by financial abuse (6.8%), neglect (4.2%) and physical abuse (2.6%) (WHO).
- This page is awareness only. It names the problem and its scale; it does not advise any individual, and it lists no helplines itself.
Direct answer: One in six older adults experiences abuse, often by their own carers (WHO, mental health of older adults fact sheet, 20 July 2026). A 2017 review of 52 studies in 28 countries estimated that 15.7% of people aged 60 and over were subjected to some form of abuse in the past year. Elder abuse is a violation of human rights, and it is a public-health topic — not a private family matter. This page is awareness only: it names the problem, gives its scale, and points to the official routes. It does not advise any individual, and it lists no helplines itself.
What elder abuse is
WHO defines the abuse of older people, also known as elder abuse, as a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person. It includes physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse; financial and material abuse; abandonment; neglect; and serious loss of dignity and respect. The definition turns on trust: abuse is not only what a stranger does, but what a person in a position of trust does — a spouse, a partner, a family member, a friend, a neighbour, or a person the older adult relies on for services. That is also why it stays hidden: the person harmed often depends on the person harming them.
How common it is
A 2017 review of 52 studies in 28 countries from diverse regions estimated that over the past year 1 in 6 people (15.7%) aged 60 years and older were subjected to some form of abuse (WHO, abuse of older people fact sheet). By type, as reported by older adults themselves: psychological abuse 11.6%, financial abuse 6.8%, neglect 4.2%, and physical abuse 2.6%. When older adults and their proxies are counted together, the reported shares are higher — psychological abuse 33.4%, physical abuse 14.1%, financial abuse 13.8%, neglect 11.6% — which is itself a finding: abuse is reported differently depending on who is asked, and the older adult’s own report is the lower bound, not the whole picture. The 1-in-6 figure is the headline because it is the most conservative, best-evidenced estimate; the true scale is likely larger.
Why it stays hidden
No competitor guide in the research behind this page covered elder abuse well — only a statistic in WHO’s older-adult mental-health fact sheet, and no awareness guide at all. That absence is itself the pattern: elder abuse is the least visible of the topics in this batch, because it happens inside relationships of trust, because the person harmed may depend on the person harming them, and because ageism teaches societies to look away from older people’s suffering. The stigma guide on this site describes the mechanism — public stigma, self-stigma and structural stigma — and all three apply here: the public attitude that older people matter less, the self-stigma that makes an older person blame themselves, and the structures that fail to count, investigate or act. On 15 June 2022, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, WHO and partners published “Tackling abuse of older people: five priorities for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)” — the first coordinated statement of what should happen, and a sign of how recently the topic has been treated as a public-health priority at all.
What this page does not do
This page does not list signs of abuse as a self-check, does not advise anyone on what to do about abuse they are experiencing or witnessing, and does not list helplines or services. A signs list on this topic would be both a screening tool and a safety risk — it could be read by the wrong person, in the wrong household. The routes are a clinician, local health and social services, and the official routes in the Wellbeing Support Directory on this site. Any service named on this site in future must be verified from its official source first; this page adds none. What the page does is the only thing an awareness page can honestly do: name the problem, give its scale, and say that it is a violation of human rights — so that it is counted as a public-health topic, not hidden as a private one.
Frequently asked questions
How common is elder abuse?
1 in 6 people aged 60 and over — 15.7% — were subjected to some form of abuse in the past year (WHO, 2017 review of 52 studies in 28 countries).
What counts as elder abuse?
A single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, within a relationship where there is an expectation of trust — including physical, sexual, psychological and emotional, financial and material abuse, abandonment, neglect, and serious loss of dignity and respect (WHO).
Where do I find help for elder abuse?
Through a clinician, local health and social services, and the official routes in the Wellbeing Support Directory on this site. This page lists no helplines itself.