A/HRC/45/14 Action, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs has developed indicators. 24 In the context of the implementation of the Plan of Action, several countries also conducted studies on older persons that enhanced the understanding of their situation and needs. 25 In addition, regional efforts have contributed to progress in the availability, accessibility and comparability of data in support of the implementation of the Plan of Action, 26 although this cannot substitute for the lack of a comprehensive global approach to the monitoring of the Plan of Action.27 While progress has been made, it remains limited and uneven and data gaps persist. 50. The Sustainable Development Goals constitute an invaluable opportunity to increase the visibility of older persons and to highlight inequalities in old age. Specific references to older persons are, however, rare. The references to “all” or to people of “all ages” reflect the intention in the Goals to meet the needs of all social groups, which naturally includes older persons. It is noteworthy that for most indicators, implementation must be disaggregated by age. Target 17.18, for instance, is to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by age. There are significant gaps, however. The indicator of premature death, used to measure Sustainable Development Goal 3, excludes persons who die from non-communicable diseases after the age of 70.28 Such indicators support ageist attitudes and practices while remaining largely unnoticed and unaddressed. Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals have been a catalyst for improving general data collection around the world, many countries still lag behind in producing data on older persons and lack systematic disaggregated analysis that is necessary for monitoring the implementation of the Goals. 51. There have been repeated calls and initiatives in multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations and international human rights mechanisms, to increase the collection and dissemination of data on older persons29 and also at the regional levels. The Bureau of the Conference of European Statisticians, for instance, established the Task Force on Ageingrelated Statistics, in 2013, which developed guidelines aimed at improving the availability, accessibility and comparability of data in this field. 30 52. An initiative at the global level is the so-called Titchfield Group on Ageing-related Statistics and Age-disaggregated Data. This informal consultation group of experts, primarily from national statistical agencies, was created in 2018 with the endorsement of the Statistical Commission to improve the availability, accessibility and comparability of statistical data in support of ageing-related policymaking. 53. The overall objective of the Titchfield Group is to develop standardized tools and methods for producing data on the major dimensions of ageing, and age-disaggregated data across the life cycle, and to encourage countries to do so. The identification of the critical domains relating to ageing is derived from the recommendations of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, taking into account more recent strategies, such as 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 12 Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Guidelines for Review and Appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: Bottom-up Participatory Approach, available at www.monitoringris.org/documents/imp_glob/Guidelines_draft_final_June.pdf. See A/HRC/33/44. See www.unece.org/statistics/networks-of-experts/task-force-on-ageing-related-statistics.html; Asghar Zaidi, Jane Parry and Jinpil Um, “Developing a toolkit to monitor implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in the context of the Asia-Pacific region”, Social Development Working Paper No. 2018/02; and Michael Murphy, “Ageing in sub-Saharan Africa in the context of global development: the Multiple Indicator Survey project”, 2018. Asghar Zaidi, Implementing the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing: What have we learned? And, where do we go from here? (2018), available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/implementing-madridplan-action-ageing-what-have-we-learned-and-where-do-we-go-here. See https://ageing-equal.org/trying-to-make-sense-of-ageism-in-health/; Peter Lloyd-Sherlock et al., “Population ageing and health”, The Lancet, vol. 379, issue No. 9823, pp. 1295–1296; and www.bmj.com/content/354/bmj.i4514. See, for instance, A/61/167; General Assembly resolution 68/134; General Assembly resolution 69/146; A/HRC/41/32; General Assembly resolution 69/2, para. 10; and World Health Organization (WHO), World Report on Ageing and Health, paras. 17–18. See www.unece.org/statistics/networks-of-experts/task-force-on-ageing-related-statistics.html