The Global AgeWatch Index 2014 has ranked India a lowly 69th among 96 countries it has ranked on how friendly the countries are for senior citizens.
It performs best in the enabling environment domain (52), a significant increase from its 2013 ranking (72) due to an increase in sense of civic freedom (77%) and satisfaction with public transport (69%).
It performs moderately in the capability domain (55), with near the regional average values for employment (55.8%), but low values for educational attainment among older people (20.3%).
It ranks low in the income security domain (71), with poor pension income coverage (28.9%). However, it has low old age poverty (5.1%) and high relative welfare for its region. It ranks lowest in the health domain (87), with below regional average values on all health indicators.
Life expectancy at the Age of 60 in India is estimated to be 17 years, while the estimated number of healthy years is on about 12.6. Only about 28% of those above the age of 65 receive any pension and the rest are dependent on their own savings or their children.
The most worrisome finding is that the country does not seem to have any clear National policy on ageing. Unless concrete steps are taken in defining a national level policy on ageing, it is going to be very difficult to see any great improvement in India’s ranking in the future. With the pressure of increasing population in this segment, things can easily go downhill very quickly.
The top 10 countries to grow old is are:
- Norway
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Iceland
- USA
- Japan
- New Zealand
For a more detailed anaysis, go here.
(https://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/population-ageing-data/country-ageing-data/?country=India )
