'Improving' Mandela turns 95 in hospital Millions of people around the world have marked Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday. MILLIONS of people around the world have marked Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday, heartened by news that the hospitalised icon was now able to smile and nod to visitors. After six weeks of intensive hospital treatment, Ndileka Mandela says her grandfather is "steadily improving" and "using his eyes, nodding." That message was echoed by President Jacob Zuma who visited his predecessor's Pretoria bedside "found him really stable and I was able to say 'happy birthday' and he was able to smile." That is a dramatic turnaround for the ailing peace icon, who just weeks ago was thought to be close to death. Outside the Pretoria facility which has been the focal point of a national vigil for the last 41 days, there were joyous scenes. Revellers sang anti-apartheid struggle songs, school children read poems dedicated to a man nearing the end of his long walk that took him from political prisoner to South Africa's first black president. Thursday's news was a relief elsewhere in the country to South Africans who marked Mandela Day with a panoply of good deeds. Biker gangs cleaned streets, volunteers painted schools and politicians spent 67 minutes on worthy projects - all to mark Mandela's 67 years of public service. Messages of support also poured in from around the world - and even from astronauts on the International Space Station - to mark the anniversary, which many eared Mandela would not live to see. US President Barack Obama led tributes to the peace icon, calling on people to honour him through volunteer work. Other well-wishers included the Dalai Lama, former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, US actor Morgan Freeman and Mandela's former jailer FW de Klerk, who went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize with him.