In today’s blog, I am writing on one subject which is relevant all over in the modern day. The subject on which I am writing about the long life of senior citizens across the world and its effects on the society as whole.
All over the world, longevity has gone up and mortality rates have come down, this has happened due to many achievements in the medicine and surgery field. In this scenario, in India alone. More than 35% of the population is comprised of people above 65 years of age. Even all around the world, there is general trend of seniors being a significant percentage of the population, and this is also rising. However in most of the countries the retirement age has not been changed, and also livable conditions for elders has also not changed. We, the Indians, have along way to go before we accept these changes.
In most Asian countries, ageing is a very familial thing. Seniors who live eighty and beyond are common sight in most of the cities. In this part of world it is generally expected and understood that future generations care for them. In most of the cases, this works out well- since family are generally large in Asian countries, they can all contribute to the household and look after their children and seniors. The main problem in these type of cases is seniors feel they have become dependent on children, and sometimes may not find respect and independence they wished for. But in India living alone is not solution, because there is no social security, and only govt employees get a pension. Most seniors have to compromise on their lifestyle post retirement.
The problem in the other parts of the world is somewhat different. There you think of population as an inverted triangle, the seniors are at the top, broader portion whereas the workforce is somewhere in the narrow portion. This means fewer employed people are now paying for a greater number of seniors in the form of social security. It means that now few working people are only contributing towards govt funds for social security, this in the end adds the burden to govt who has to generate more revenue to keep the social security scheme and benefits alive. Which indirectly means that govt has to impose more taxes on the working class. So individual has to pay more tax to govt.
Some experts have suggested that in the modern times the retirement age should be pushed up by 5 to 10 depending upon the health condition of the individual. This way govt will get more taxes for 5 years, and at the same time social security payments are delayed by the 5 to 10 years. This way individual tax burden can come down, and secondly employed seniors have a longer amount of time before considering the retirement and its alternatives. This may work in the countries where social security for the individual is available post retirement. In country like India, this type of scheme may not be feasible because pushing up retirement age will definitely hamper the job prospects for the younger generation because with limited number of jobs, unless a person retires from the job then only next in the line can be pushed up, and this chain continues till the bottom, therefore in the end helping in creating a particular job slot. Unless new job avenues for the young generations can be created then only, it might become feasible to raise the retirement age.
In India, there is one more problem because only pensionable jobs are in govt sector, the seniors who retire from the private sectors have to plan for their post retirement expenses during their working period only. So most of the people who retire from pvt sector are at disadvantage because they have to invest their funds very carefully, so that the interest income from these funds can give them sufficient income to survive on the daily basis. But with bank interest rates dwindling in last 10 years, it is adding on to the already existing hardship for the retired people. On top of that with banks collapsing, imagine the fate of senior who has invested his major chunk in the particular bank.
The Indian govt have to think really fast on this issue and save the retired citizens from this problem, if that does not happen in near future then seniors will have tough time in future.
Waiting for your views/feed backs/comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
11th Mar 2020
In today’s blog, I am writing on one subject which is relevant all over in the modern day. The subject on which I am writing about the long life of senior citizens across the world and its effects on the society as whole.
All over the world, longevity has gone up and mortality rates have come down, this has happened due to many achievements in the medicine and surgery field. In this scenario, in India alone. More than 35% of the population is comprised of people above 65 years of age. Even all around the world, there is general trend of seniors being a significant percentage of the population, and this is also rising. However in most of the countries the retirement age has not been changed, and also livable conditions for elders has also not changed. We, the Indians, have along way to go before we accept these changes.
In most Asian countries, ageing is a very familial thing. Seniors who live eighty and beyond are common sight in most of the cities. In this part of world it is generally expected and understood that future generations care for them. In most of the cases, this works out well- since family are generally large in Asian countries, they can all contribute to the household and look after their children and seniors. The main problem in these type of cases is seniors feel they have become dependent on children, and sometimes may not find respect and independence they wished for. But in India living alone is not solution, because there is no social security, and only govt employees get a pension. Most seniors have to compromise on their lifestyle post retirement.
The problem in the other parts of the world is somewhat different. There you think of population as an inverted triangle, the seniors are at the top, broader portion whereas the workforce is somewhere in the narrow portion. This means fewer employed people are now paying for a greater number of seniors in the form of social security. It means that now few working people are only contributing towards govt funds for social security, this in the end adds the burden to govt who has to generate more revenue to keep the social security scheme and benefits alive. Which indirectly means that govt has to impose more taxes on the working class. So individual has to pay more tax to govt.
Some experts have suggested that in the modern times the retirement age should be pushed up by 5 to 10 depending upon the health condition of the individual. This way govt will get more taxes for 5 years, and at the same time social security payments are delayed by the 5 to 10 years. This way individual tax burden can come down, and secondly employed seniors have a longer amount of time before considering the retirement and its alternatives. This may work in the countries where social security for the individual is available post retirement. In country like India, this type of scheme may not be feasible because pushing up retirement age will definitely hamper the job prospects for the younger generation because with limited number of jobs, unless a person retires from the job then only next in the line can be pushed up, and this chain continues till the bottom, therefore in the end helping in creating a particular job slot. Unless new job avenues for the young generations can be created then only, it might become feasible to raise the retirement age.
In India, there is one more problem because only pensionable jobs are in govt sector, the seniors who retire from the private sectors have to plan for their post retirement expenses during their working period only. So most of the people who retire from pvt sector are at disadvantage because they have to invest their funds very carefully, so that the interest income from these funds can give them sufficient income to survive on the daily basis. But with bank interest rates dwindling in last 10 years, it is adding on to the already existing hardship for the retired people. On top of that with banks collapsing, imagine the fate of senior who has invested his major chunk in the particular bank.
The Indian govt have to think really fast on this issue and save the retired citizens from this problem, if that does not happen in near future then seniors will have tough time in future.
Waiting for your views/feed backs/comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
11th Mar 2020