One in three elders report zero earnings in the past year, only 29% access pensions
income in the past year, and 32% of elderly individuals or their spouses had an annual income of less than Rs 50,000. Only 29% of elderly people had access to social security schemes such as old-age pensions, contributory pensions, or provident funds. Nearly 65% of elderly individuals said they were not financially secure with their current income and access to savings and investments.
These findings are part of a report released by the voluntary organisation HelpAge India on the eve of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, observed on June 15.
Regarding health, more than half of the elderly (52%) reported facing at least one challenge related to daily living activities, and 54% suffered from two or more non-communicable diseases.
The survey included 5,169 elderly people and 1,333 caregivers across 20 Tier I and Tier II cities in 10 states. The study captured the experiences of elderly people from cities such as Jaipur, Bikaner, Faridabad, Panipat, Kanpur, Bareilly, Indore, Ujjain, Kolkata, Siliguri, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Greater Mumbai, Solapur, Chennai, Salem, Bengaluru, and Hubli-Dharwad.
These findings are significant given the major demographic shift in India, with the population of those over 60 expected to double from 10.5% in 2022 to 20.8% by 2050.
The report, «Ageing in India: Exploring Preparedness & Response to Care Challenges,» revealed that only 31% of elderly people had health insurance. Most of this coverage was through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, ESI, and CGHS. Only a
