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Blessing or Burden: The Elderly and Household Welfare in Ghana

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  • Edward Martey

    (CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute)

Abstract

Demographic projections globally indicate an increase in the elderly population due to declining mortality rates resulting from technological advancement and improvement in medicine. This study estimates the extra cost of an elderly household member. Further, it examines the relationship and mechanism between the elderly and household welfare in Ghana using data from the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS6 and GLSS7). Based on the standard of living approach, the study estimates the extra cost of an elderly member at 24% (US$580) and 8% (US$131) of annual household consumption expenditures in 2012/2013 and 2016/2017, respectively. Disaggregation of the results based on location indicates that rural households with an elderly member incur higher extra costs than urban households. The estimation results showed that the presence of an elderly member reduced household welfare by approximately 4%. The result is robust to alternative estimation methods and further indicated that time poverty is the main channel through which elderly members influence household welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Martey, 2022. "Blessing or Burden: The Elderly and Household Welfare in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 803-827, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:162:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-021-02871-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-021-02871-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Elderly; Household welfare; Standard of living; Time Poverty; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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