During 2023, 263,522 people over 65 years of age died in Argentina. In 2024 the figure was 284,798. That is to say, 21,276 more deaths among the elderly population than the previous year. The difference is especially high among those over 80 years of age: in this group, the increase is 9.46%.
The data comes from official statistics. They arise from the comparison of the Vital Statistics Yearbooks of 2023 and 2024. The one for 2025 is not yet published.
The person who has been warning about the seriousness of these figures is the doctor and public health specialist Oscar Atienza: “That year (2024) they took away the remedies from the retirees. It was not harmless”he wrote on his X account.
“Any of us who are on medication for blood pressure, for hypertension, if they stop taking those medications or distance themselves from them, they will end up with a heart attack, a stroke, some other type of problem or death. This happens throughout the country. The data from Córdoba says that last year (by 2024) 11% more people over 65 years of age died. “In the pandemic, the excess death rate was 10.6%.”Atienza compared in dialogue with America News.
In 2024, the first year of Milei, 21,276 people over 65 years of age died than in 2023.
It is a rate of 9.5%.
That year they took away the remedies from the retirees.
It was not harmless.
Give RT the retirees deserve to spread the word about their problem. pic.twitter.com/C1dstTYpIC— Dr. Oscar Atienza (@oscaratienza) February 28, 2026
Demographer Enrique Peláez, from the National University of Córdoba, considered the data as “worrying“. In response to the query of Timeclarified that it still remains to compare rates, since due to population aging the population over 65 years of age in 2024 may have been “slightly higher than that of 2023, but it would never justify this increase in deaths.”
“It would be necessary to analyze the causes of deaths that produced this excess, but Without a doubt, difficulties in accessing medicines can affect“, considered.
Less medications
In August 2024, the National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners (PAMI) announced a modification of the drug coverage scheme and many of the remedies that had a total benefit now went to 40% to 70% coverage. Only more than a year later, in October 2025, the Court ordered PAMI to restore 100% of the medications to its members throughout the country. The drop in coverage coexisted with the loss of general purchasing power and a very poor minimum retirement..
According to a report from the Health Sovereignty Foundation Regarding the Health management of the first two years of the Milei government, one of the clearest aspects of the adjustment is reflected in the impact of this modification of coverage in medicines for the elderly: “Between the end of 2023 and 2025, the out-of-pocket spending of members increased well above general inflation and the evolution of retirement benefits, as a consequence of changes in the reference price and the elimination of full coverage for frequently used medications.” According to the survey, the accumulated increase in out-of-pocket spending of PAMI members rose by 477% between November 2023 and November 2025.
This also translated into “a sustained decline in prescription drug useparticularly among PAMI affiliates.” In the same sense, a report from the Argentina Grande Institute (IAG) indicated that in the third quarter of 2025, 5.4 million fewer medications were sold than in the same period of 2023.
Not only in the elderly
The official data on vital statistics not only showed worrying figures for the elderly. In recent weeks it was also known that For the first time in years, infant mortality increased, as did maternal mortality..
According to the latest bulletin from the Directorate of Statistics and Health Information (DEIS), the infant and neonatal mortality rate, considered the most sensitive indicator of the social situation of a country: It went from 8 per thousand in 2023 (the lowest number recorded) to 8.5 in 2024.
Regarding maternal mortality, in 2024, 183 women died in the country due to causes related to pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period. In 2023 there had been 147. A 37% increaseas reflected in official data from the Ministry of Health of the Nation. This is the highest value since 2010 (except for the pandemic, which altered all values) and implies a break in the downward trend of 2022-2023.
