STATE OF THE AGED
Some studies have forecast that India is set to become the world’s largest economy by 2050 on the back of a young population. However, a report, `Preparing for the Challenges of Population Aging in Asia: Strengthening the Scientific Basis of Policy Development’, jointly prepared by top science academies of India, China, Indonesia, Japan and the US by extrapolating Asian population trends, fertility rates as well as survey samples to 2050, warns that the percentage of people aged 65 and above will more than triple in China, Indonesia and India from today’s levels. This, the study says, is because of expected improvements in nutrition, public health and medical care, besides major shifts in the way people will reorganize their work patterns in developing economies like India. The report says more women will join the workforce and the number of nuclear families is likely to explode as a result of which more elderly are expected to live away from their children, who have traditionally been their caretakers. While more details of the report are expected to be announced at a conference in New Delhi on Monday, excerpts from the study presented below say that in contrast to Western economies, many Asian countries will grow old before they grow rich and, therefore, countries such as India ought to begin planning relevant policies–such as more comprehensive insurance polices etc.–as soon as possible.