The growth of the elderly population is a world's phenomenon, and in Brazil, the changes are happening in a radical and very accelerated way. The percentage of the Brazilian population over 60 has been growing proportionally according to the demographic data. In 1940, the elderly represented 4% of the population. From then up to 2010 there was a leap of the elderly population from 7% to 11%. Data indicate that in 2020 the elderly population is 30million individuals and that this number will increase to 57 million by 2040! The building of public policies aimed at the elderly population is something very complex due to individual variability in the aging process. Therefore, it is necessary to search for enlightening in this aging dimension diversity context so that the building of health policies for the elderly population becomes more practical. In the public policies it is essential to look at the specificities of the problems in order to reach a better efficiency of the actions. In this regard four factors are highlighted: the regionalizing of the problems (the studies must be carried out in different regions of the country), the social economical level, the age range and genre. A historical of the laws and statutes of the Brazilian elderly security is approached. At last, critics concerning the economic priorities in detriment of the deterioration of the conditions of social protection towards the elderly population are drawn.

The elderly population growth is a world phenomenon, and in Brazil, the modifications are done in a radical and very accelerated way. Currently, the data indicate that the elderly form a population of 30 million individuals and this number in bound to increase to 57 million by 2040. The present pilot study aimed at investigating the musical experience impact on the octogenarian's cognition in the city of São João del Rei/Minas Gerais/Brazil. The research was approved by the ethics committee with a favorable assent from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the São João del Rei Federal University(UFSJ) -Number 3.685.143 (05/11/2019).All the participants completed 2 questionnaires: The Mini-Mental and the Portuguese version of the Brief Music Experience Questionnaire (Brief MEQ).The statistical analyses searched to compare the extreme score values from the BRIEF M.E.Q Questionnaire, that is, the 1 st Quartile X 4 th Quartile of this sample were compared in relation to the performance in the Mini-Mental (cognitive performance). The results indicate that the group with more intense musical experience (4 th Quartile) show scores significantly higher in the Mini-Mental (p<0.01).It was concluded that the musical practices constitute themselves as an important protective strategy for elderly cognition, having a favorable impact in the life quality of this population. New studies, with a more robust sampling, will be necessary to evaluate this theme more clearly, also adding other variables such as physical activity, socio-economical and schooling levels.