The first Action Plan on Ageing adopted at the first World Assembly on Ageing in Vienna in 1982 has retained a surprising degree of topicality for today's world. The Plan focuses on central topics and forecasts and has come to be accepted as an international standard reference paper. In the early 1980's there were very few member countries who could point to comparable documents in their national ageing policies. Although experts and researchers have been active in the field of gerontology for the last twenty years, examination of the socio-political implications of ageing has largely been restricted to universities. Thus the International Action Plan on Ageing has played a major role in ageing being regarded as a political topic and included in political agendas.

The 1982 Plan contains a broad range of theme-oriented paragraphs, recommendations and implementation guidance and thus constitutes an ambitious catalogue of wishes, objectives and recommendations. The 'problem areas' dealt with are:
a) health and nutrition,
b) protection of elderly consumers
c) housing and environment
d) family
e) social welfare
f) income security and employment and
g) education.

The positions adopted in the document continue to have relevance for the modern reader and have gained in complexity in the years following the adoption of the Plan. The title "International Action Plan on Ageing" arouses false expectations. The 1982 Plan lacks concrete implementation proposals for the recommendations it lays down and is often vague. The loose structure and poor readability of the paper have made practical implementation difficult. Yet the volume of information contained in the Plan and its far-sightedness are amazing. But, for all the value of the International Action Plan on Ageing, the United Nations was not successful in the follow-up period in developing the subject of ageing societies as a mainstream issue.