A country
which is becoming younger also has a large number of aged people. By 2050, India will be home to one out of every six of
the world’s older persons, and only China will have a larger number of elderly
people, according to estimates released by the United Nations Population Fund.
Here’s a report published at The Hindu newspaper:
Thirty years ago, there were no “aged
economies,” in which consumption by older people surpassed that of youth. In
2010, there were 23 aged economies. By 2040, there will be 89.
Japan
is today the only country with more than 30 per cent of its population aged 60
or above. By 2050, there will be 64 countries where older people make up more
than 30 per cent of the population. In simple terms, within a decade
there will be one billion older persons worldwide. And by 2050, nearly 80 per
cent of the world’s older persons will live in developing countries — with
China and India contributing to over one-third that number.
A
report released by the United Nations Population Fund and HelpAge India to mark
the International Day of Older Persons — observed on October 1 — suggests that
India had 90 million elderly persons in 2011, with the number expected to grow
to 173 million by 2026. Of the 90 million seniors, 30 million are living alone,
and 90 per cent work for livelihood.The report says the number of elderly women is more than that of elderly men. Nearly three out of five single older women are very poor, and two out of three rural elderly women are fully dependants. There is also an increasing proportion of elderly at 80-plus ages, and this pattern is more pronounced among women.
The
study, undertaken in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal,
Punjab and Himachal Pradesh by HelpAge, suggests that one-fifth of the elderly
live alone. This proportion has registered a sharp increase in the past two decades
and is more evident in the case of elderly women.
The
housing data from Census 2011 also point out that the number of households has
increased substantially in the last decade, and the number of persons per
household has come down substantially. Declining fertility, migration and
nuclearisation of families are three possible reasons for such reduction in
household size.
Across
the States, there is a substantial variation in the type of living arrangement,
particularly in the proportion of elderly persons living alone. The percentage
of those living alone or with spouse is as high as 45 per cent in Tamil Nadu,
Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Kerala. This indicates that with
a demographic transition under way and youth migrating out for economic
reasons, there will be a drastic change in the living arrangements of the
elderly in rural and urban areas. The large segment of the elderly, those
living alone or with spouse only, and the widowed who are illiterate, poor and
particularly those from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, low
wealth quintiles will definitely require various kinds of support: economic,
social and psychological. These, at present, are woefully lacking.
The
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment put in place the National Policy on
Older Persons in 1999 with a view to addressing issues relating to aging in a
comprehensive manner. But the programme failed at the implementation level. The
Ministry is now formulating a new policy that is expected to address the
concerns of the elderly. The idea is to help them live a productive and
dignified life. There is a scheme of grant-in-aid of the Integrated Programme
for Older Persons, under which financial assistance is provided to voluntary
organisations for running and maintaining projects. These include old-age
homes, day-care centres and physiotherapy clinics. While the scheme, indeed the
concept, is still alien to India, the Ministry is considering the revision of
cost norms for these projects, keeping in view the rising cost of living.
The
most recent intervention has been the introduction of the National Programme
for Health Care for Elderly in 2010, with the basic aim to provide separate and
specialised comprehensive health care to senior citizens. The major components
of this programme are establishing geriatric departments in eight regional
geriatric centres and strengthening health care facilities for the elderly at
various levels in 100 districts. Though the scheme is proposed to be expanded
during the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the regional geriatric centres are yet to
take off because of lack of space in the identified institutions.
The
enactment of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act,
2007, was a legislative milestone. However, its implementation has been poor.With poor social security arrangements for the elderly, it is not surprising that around 37 million elderly in India are engaged in productive work, according to NSSO data for 2004-05. A majority of these workers are illiterate or have limited levels of education. Half the women elderly workers are from the two poorest consumption quintiles. This indicates that illiteracy and poverty push them to undertake work outside as a survival strategy, or out of compulsion.
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