Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing & India

OVERALL IMPACT ON FINANCIAL STATUS OF OLDER PERSONS

Older persons in India have limited financial resources due to various reasons but in most cases their financial requirements remain the same.
·               69.5% elderly persons were found not to be financially independent. 73% rural & 63 % urban elderly persons were dependent on others for their financial needs.
·               13% of elderly respondents (13.9% in rural areas & 11.8% in urban areas) said that they have no source of income.
·               34.6% elderly respondents (38.7% in rural areas & 13.3% in urban areas) had monthly income of less than Rs. 1000/-.
·               Almost 1/3rd of elderly respondents (35.1%) were found in monthly income group of Rs. 1000 – Rs. 5000. 33.8% rural and 37.8% urban respondents were from this income group.
·               Only 42.7% of total respondents were found in good income groups (with monthly income of Rs. 5001 & above) to meet their needs in old age.
·               Only 24.8% older persons accepted that their monthly income has risen during the last decade due to government’s schemes initiated during the same period.
Interviewers’ observations:
There is a notable difference in lifestyle of rural & urban elderly people and cost of living in rural area is comparatively less. Therefore elderly living in urban areas face more financial problems than rural elderly people. However, during past decade, net worth of older persons’ properties has risen substantially due to increase in prices of real estate and capital goods.

Representative Respondent:
“My children have settled in Mumbai, we (me & my wife) have to take care of ourselves. We started getting old age pension recently. But still it is very tough for us to survive on meager old age pension. We want some comfortable work to earn some money to meet our expenses, but unable to find it. Now we are not able to work anymore in the fields.”
- Ramdeen Mishra & Bachchi Devi (71 & 67 respectively), Katihar, Bihar

* Rs. 53 = $ 1
Source: Agewell Foundation’s Research Report “Impact Assessment of Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in India (2011-12)

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