Trends in Ageing Population in India
Most of developed countries define an “elderly” as a person who has crossed 65 years of his / her life. However, in Indian context, the National Policy on Older Persons, 1999 defines ‘senior citizen’ or ‘elderly’ as a person who is of age 60 years and above. The same definition is applicable in Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and senior Citizen Act, 2007. The elderly people face problems of failing health; economic insecurity; isolation; neglect; abuse; fear; idleness; lowered self esteem; loss of control; lack of preparedness for old age and so on.
Trends in Population
The population of elderly people is growing everywhere in the world. This is mainly because of improvement of public health; and advances in medical science which are able to prevent untimely deaths and epidemics resulting in low birth rate and low death rate.
The demography of India has also shown the same trend. The below graph shows the percentage share of elders (60+) in India’s total population since 1961:
The above graphics shows that in Census 2011, India’s above 60 population has hit an all time high accounting for 8.6% of 121 crore population. It’s worth note that it was a jump of 35.5% from 7.6 crore in 2001 to 10.3 crore in 2011. This is also a record high (double of the rate) at which overall population grew. This implies that between 2001 to 2011, India’s overall population grew by 17.7% as per the official figures.
As per Census 2011 figures, Kerala is the state with highest elderly population share (12.6%) while Arunachal Pradesh is state with lowest elderly population.
Challenges due to Ageing population
The increasing ageing population would definitely emerge as a major social challenge in the country mainly due to increased old age dependency ratio. India’s age dependency ratio is also increasing, standing at 14.2 against 10.9 in 2001. It brings more economic pressure on working population. As the ratio increases there is an increased burden on the productive part of the population to maintain the means of livelihood of the economically dependent. This results in direct impacts on financial expenditures on things like social security, as well as many indirect consequences such as: working population may have to pay higher taxes; ageing population may lead to shortage of workers and hence push up wages; increased demand for certain goods and services related to old age people {example- retirement homes}; reduction in capital investments due to higher savings in pensions etc.
Traditionally older people in India enjoyed honour, respect and legitimate authority within the family and society. However, in modern times, the youngsters have replaced them in strategic positions leaving them in weakened and non-productive.
