Quality of Life for Elderly Index

Published: 16th Aug, 2021

Context

Recently, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) released the Quality of Life for Elderly Index.

About

About the Quality of Life for Elderly Index

The Index was created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM. Index sheds light on issues which often not mentioned- problems faced by the elderly.
The Index framework has four pillars:
- Financial Well-being
- Social Well-being
- Health System
- Income Security
Index also includes sub-pillars namely: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Wellbeing, Social Security and Enabling Environment.
This index broadens the way to understand the needs and opportunities of elderly population in India.
It goes far beyond the income support that often narrows policy thinking and debate about the needs of this age group.
The index highlights to investing in health, education and employment for young people today.

Key Highlights from the Report:

The share of elders, as a percentage of the total population in the country, is expected to increase from around 7.5% in 2001 to almost 12.5% by 2026, and surpass 19.5% by 2050.
State-wise ranking: Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are the top-scoring regions in Aged and Relatively Aged States, respectively. The Aged States refer to States with an elderly population of more than 5 million, whereas Relatively Aged States refer to States with an Elderly population of less than 5 million.
- Chandigarh and Mizoram are the top-scoring regions in UTs and North-East States category.
Smart work with pillars:The Health System pillar ranks the highest in the country, 66.97 in the whole of India, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
- Financial well-being looks at 44.7 points, which is reduced by the low performance of 21 countries across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, reflecting the scope of improvement.
- Countries have done very poorly in the Income Security column because more than half of countries have points below the national average in Income Security, which is the lowest base of all pillars.

Global Ways:

Ten Years of Healthy Aging (2020-2030): Ten years of healthy aging have been approved by the 73rd World Health Assembly (2020 World Health Organization) decision-making body.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development wants no one left behind and ensure that the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are met at all levels of society, at all ages, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable - including the elderly.

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