South Asia
Conclusion
South Asian countries need to document and face the challenges posed by the increasingly elderly populations. Timely collection and release of high-quality data should be prioritized to facilitate the planning process. Social security schemes need to be expanded to cover vulnerable segments of the population. Familial support systems also should be strengthened by various means. Private and nonprofit sector efforts must be developed to supplement those of the over-burdened public sector. At the same time elements of Asian culture that respect elders and view old age as a time of wisdom should not be lost. That is, making adequate provision for seniors should not be accompanied by approaches or assumptions that view old age as a looming problem or the proportion of elders in society as a burden. A social construction of the aging process as inherently problematic serves to legitimize a transfer of responsibility for elders from the state to individual older persons (Estes et al.). For each country or subgroup in South Asia, an appropriate balance needs to be developed between individual and public provision for the growing elderly population.
S. SUDHA S. IRUDAYA RAJAN
See also CHINA; JAPAN; POPULATION AGING.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AGARWAL, B. A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
BASU, A. M. ‘‘Women’s Roles and the Gender Gap in Health and Survival.’’ In Women’s Health in India: Risk and Vulnerability. Edited by Monica Das Gupta, L. C. Chen, and T. N. Krishnan. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pages 153–174.
CHEN, M. A., and DREZE, J. ‘‘Widowhood and Well Being in Rural North India.’’ In Womens Health in India: Risk and Vulnerability. Edited by M. Das Gupta, L. C. Chen, and T. N. Krishnan. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pages 245–288.
ESTES, C. L.; LINKINS, K. W.; and BINNEY, E. A. ‘‘The Political Economy of Aging.’’ In Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, 4th ed. Edited by Robert H. Binstock and Linda K. George. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1996. Pages 346–361.
GUPTA, A. ‘‘Osteoporosis in India: the Nutritional Hypothesis.’’ National Medicine Journal of India 9, no. 6 (1996): 268–274.
International Labour Office. World Labour Report 2000. Geneva: United Nations, 2000.
IRUDAYA RAJAN, S.; MISHRA, U. S.; and SARMA, P. S. ‘‘Living Arrangements among the Indian Elderly.’’ In Hong Kong Journal of Gerontology 9, no. 2 (1995): 20–28.
MURRAY, C. J. L., and LOPEZ, A. D. Global Health Statistics: A Compendium of Incidence, Prevalence, and Mortality Estimates for over 200 Conditions. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.
RAMA RAO, S., and TOWNSEND, J. ‘‘Health Needs of Elderly Women: An Emerging Issue.’’ In Gender, Population and Development. Edited by Maithreyi Krishnaraj, Ratna M. Sudarshan, and Abusaleh Shariff. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
United Nations. Demographic Yearbook Special Issue: Population Ageing and the Situation of Elderly Persons. New York: United Nations, 1991. Special Topic Table 4. Page 394.
United Nations. Women in Asia and the Pacific: 1985–1993. New York: United Nations, 1994.
United Nations. World Population Prospects. New York: Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 1998.
U.S. Census Bureau. ‘‘International Data Base Summary Demographic Data.’’ Available on the World Wide Web at www.census.gov
Additional topics
Medicine EncyclopediaAging Healthy - Part 4South Asia - Trends In Population Aging, Living Arrangements, Economic Status And Retirement Patterns, Sex Ratios In The Elderly Population