INDIA, April 5, 2015 (The Hindu): Independent India was born an extraordinarily young country. The median age was just a little over 21, and nearly 60 per cent of the population was under 25. With life expectancy just 36 years, the issue of managing an ageing population must have seemed like challenges for the distant future. Much has changed since: as health and nutrition have improved, average life expectancy has climbed to over 66 years. Simultaneously, with better education and access to health, women are having fewer children than ever before; the median age has climbed to nearly 27; and for the first time in history, less than half the country is under 25.
India now has over 100 million citizens over the age of 60, five times the number in 1950. Seniors now make up 8.6 per cent of the population. By 2050, India will have nearly 300 million seniors and make up about a fifth of the population, as per projections from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. Compared globally, these numbers seem small. But the conditions in which India’s seniors live as well as the current status of official policies on senior citizens raise serious doubts about whether India is ready to face a greying future.