Elderly women outnumber men, says NSS report
The latest National Sample Survey report on ‘Health in India’ notes that the share of 60-plus women is higher than that of men in both rural and urban areas.
Key facts:
- India has more elderly women than men with the sex ratio of the country’s 60-plus population recorded at 1,033 women per 1,000 men in the 2011 Census, up from 1,029 in the 2001 census.
- The sex ratio in the country had shot up from 930 in the 1991 Census to 1,029 in 2001. However, the National Sample Survey in 2004 recorded a drop in this ratio to 999, before it went up again in 2011.
- Among rural areas, the highest sex ratio (1,289) was reported in Gujarat and in urban Assam it was recorded as 1,476.
- The share of elderly women (per 1,000 population) in both urban and rural areas is higher than those of men.
- The overall proportion of the elderly in India, home to the world’s largest youth population, too has gone up. An estimated 87.6 million aged people live in India, about 69% of them in rural parts. Their magnitude in terms of number or in terms of share to total population is found to rise gradually over the decades. In 1981, the share of the elderly population per 1,000 in rural India was 68, which went up to 88 in 2011. In urban India, the elderly share was recorded at 54 per 1,000 in 1981, going up to 81 in the 2011 Census. But about 50% of the elderly population is totally economically dependent on others.
Concerns:
Experts describe the pattern as feminisation of ageing, which in the context of a developing country like India, brings with it health and financial concerns.
- According to the Health in India report, around 70% elderly women in both urban and rural India are economically dependent on others. And around 35% of women aged over 80 are immobile.
- Financial constraints are further compounded by illnesses of old age. The survey found a high proportion of the elderly battling chronic illnesses and around 8% of the elderly, particularly those aged over 80, confined to their beds.
