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Asia’s
ageing population stretching resources
By Jill McGivering
Daily Times, May 20, 2003
 Asia is
described as the world’s most rapidly ageing region. One estimate is
that by the year 2050, Asia will be home to almost two-thirds of the
world’s population of people over 60 and many will age in poverty. Due
to longer life expectancies and falling birth rates, Asia is rapidly
getting older. In many parts of the region the concepts of retirement and
pensions barely exist.
In India, for example, less than 10% of the population is covered by
formal pension schemes and they are mostly government workers and
professionals. The government introduced a national old age pension scheme
in the mid 1990s, which gives a handout of $1.50 a month. It is designed
as a safety net for those below the poverty line.
But a current study by HelpAge International has found that only about one
in five of those eligible for the payments actually receive them. Many do
not realise the scheme exists or, given that three out of four people over
60 in India today are illiterate, just can not cope with the paperwork.
“Even if people are aware the scheme exists, they may have problems
filling up the forms, getting their age certified by the doctor or getting
certification that they are below the poverty line,” said Shubha Soneja,
HelpAge India’s head of research and strategic development who is
writing the report. “Our recommendation is that the government should
simplify the procedures and involve non-government organisations a lot
more.” As a result of these gaps, most older people have few choices.
Many are forced to carry on working for as long as they can to support
themselves. Others become dependent on relatives, a pattern which can
contribute to keeping the rest of the family in poverty.
Sometimes the traditional three generation family unit is a positive model
- but when the elderly have no alternative, dependence on family can leave
them highly vulnerable to abuse - from physical and verbal to more generic
problems such as isolation. One researcher cited the example in India of
an elderly married couple forced to live separately because one son wanted
just his mother to live with him to provide childcare whilst a second son
took her husband.
Older people are now consistently poorer than the rest of the population
and increasingly vulnerable and yet rarely targeted as a group by poverty
alleviation programmes. “Older people are looked at as a spent force,”
said Shubha Soneja, “and people don’t realise they’re adding to the
dependent population.” The lack of provision of health care for the
elderly worsens the poverty cycle. Poorer older people are more likely to
face health problems. Lost earnings through ill-health and the cost of
medicines push them further into poverty. Gender inequality also plays a
part and more than half of Asia’s women over 60 are widows. As well as
losing any income generated by husbands, many widows also suffer low
social status, are politically as well as economically marginalised and at
increased risk of abuse. As the number of elderly people starts to soar,
the lack of financial planning is causing alarm - both about the plight of
the elderly and the burden they will represent for communities already
struggling against poverty. Shubha Soneja says the Indian government’s
response so far to this looming crisis is inadequate. India is already
struggling to support a current population of about 81 million people over
60. By the year 2025, that figure is expected to have more than doubled -
to an estimated 177 million. But plans to provide for them still are not
being made. “The figures are horrifying,” she says. “Unless we take
steps now, it’s going to be a very pathetic situation.”
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© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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