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IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

 

Central Statistics Office

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

Government of India

 

SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE ELDERLY IN INDIA [June 2011]

http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/elderly_in_india.pdf

[full-text, 63 pages]

 

Highlights

• The elderly population (aged 60 years or above) account for 7.4% of total population

in 2001. For males it was marginally lower at 7.1%, while for females it was 7.8%.

Among states the proportion vary from around 4% in small states like Dadra & Nagar

Haveli, Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya to more than 10.5% in Kerala.

 

• Both the share and size of elderly population is increasing over time. From 5.6% in

1961 it is projected to rise to 12.4% of population by the year 2026.

 

• The sex ratio among elderly people was as high as 1028 in 1951 but subsequently

dropped to about 938 in 1971 and finally reached 972 in 2001.

 

• The life expectancy at birth during 2002-06 was 64.2 for females as against 62.6

years for males. At age 60 average remaining length of life was found to be about 18

years (16.7 for males, 18.9 for females) and that at age 70 was less than 12 years

(10.9 for males and 12.4 for females).

 

• There is sharp rise in age-specific death rate with age from 20 (per thousand) for

persons in age group 60-64 years to 80 among those aged 75- 79 years and 200 for

persons aged more than 85 years.

 

• The old-age dependency ratio climbed from 10.9% in 1961 to 13.1% in 2001 for

India as a whole. For females and males the value of the ratio was 13.8% and 12.5%

in 2001.

 

• About 65 per cent of the aged had to depend on others for their day-to-day

maintenance. Less than 20% of elderly women but majority of elderly men were

economically independent.

 

• Among economically dependent elderly men 6-7% were financially supported by

their spouses, almost 85% by their own children, 2% by grand children and 6% by

others. Of elderly women, less than 20% depended on their spouses, more than 70%

on their children, 3% on grand children and 6% or more on others including the

non-relations.

 

• Of the economically independent men more than 90% as against 65 % of women

were reported to have one or more dependants.

 

• mong the rural elderly persons almost 50% had a monthly per capita expenditure

level between Rs. 420 to Rs. 775 and among the urban elderly persons, almost half

of aged had monthly per capita expenditure between Rs. 665 and 1500 in 2002.

 

• Nearly 40% of persons aged 60 years and above (60% of men and 19% of women)

were working. In rural areas 66% of elderly men and above 23% of aged women

were still participating in economic activity, while in urban areas only 39% of elderly

men and about 7% of elderly women were economically active.

 

• Even in 2007-08 only 50% men and 20% of women aged 60 years or more were

literate through formal schooling.

 

• In rural areas 55 % of the aged with sickness and 77 % of those without sickness felt

that they were in a good or fair condition of health. In urban areas the respective

proportions were 63 % and 78 % .

 

• The proportion of elderly men and women physically mobile decline from about 94

% in the age-group 60 – 64 years to about 72% for men and 63 to 65% for women

of age 80 or more.

 

• Prevalence of heart diseases among elderly population was much higher in urban

areas than in rural parts.

 

• About 64 per thousand elderly persons in rural areas and 55 per thousand in urban

areas suffer from one or more disabilities. Most common disability among the aged

persons was loco motor disability as 3% of them suffer from it.

 

• In age-groups beyond 60 years, the percentage of elderly women married was

markedly lower than the percentage of men married.

 

• More than 75% of elderly males and less than 40% of elderly females live with their

spouse. Less than 20% of aged men and about half of the women live with their

children.

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
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