DATA STORY : Elderly In India

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It has been well known that countries all around the world are experiencing an increase in the proportion of their elderly population because of falling fertility rates and rising life expectancy. India is also experiencing a rise of elderly population at a greater rate than before. It is expected to increase by 41% in the next decade.

This has posed multiple challenges for India. Firstly because India is not well prepared for this transition being a developing country and secondly, the decline of the joint family system towards nuclear family has increased this vulnerability. Thus, it is necessary to assess the status of elderly population, their presence across states, formal education among elderly, crime rate against them and dependency ratio in India.

Steps taken in India- Government has launched various pension and social security schemes for elderly like Atal Bima yojana, and also indices like Quality of Life for Elderly Index which focuses on four pillars i.e. Financial Well-being, Social Well-being, Health System and Income Security.

In this direction, this data story has largely been prepared by using data from Census 2011, National Statistical Office (NSO)’s Elderly in India 2021 report and World health organisation (WHO).