Ageing and the socioeconomic life of older adults in India: An empirical exposition

The study attempts to approach the ageing in India from three perspectives, namely, the well being of an ageing individual, the ageing household and the ageing population. The aspects, namely, work, financial dependence, integration, empowerment and elder abuse are studied and their relation to age, gender and marital status is investigated. The data sets pertaining to the National Sample Surveys for the reference periods 1986-87, 1995-96 and 2004 are primarily utilized for the purpose. The data sets from Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India Survey, 2011 are also utilized for information on elder abuse. The results show that the older males are more likely to participate in household activities when compared to the older females. The married older adults are also more likely to participate in household activities when compared to their widowed counterparts. In a similar way gender and marital status are found to be associated with empowerment of older adults. The working older adults, those who possess property and / or assets are more likely to be financially independent. Further, the older females and the financially dependent older adults are more likely to face abuses of different kinds. Households are classified into three different types. Type- I households have no older adults, Type – II households have older adults and other younger members and Type – III households have older adults only. Results show that Type – III households are found to be relatively more deprived and report higher average monthly expenditure when compared to other types of households.