Quality of Life for Elderly Index assesses well-being of India’s ageing population

What is the News?

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has released the Quality of Life for Elderly Index.

About Quality of Life for Elderly Index:

• Created by: Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM.
• Purpose: The report identifies the regional patterns of ageing across the Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India. It also presents a deeper insight into how well India is doing to support the well-being of its ageing population.

Pillars and Sub Pillars of the index:

• Four Pillars: Financial Well-being, Social Well-being, Health System and Income Security
• Eight Sub-Pillars: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Well being, Social Security and Enabling Environment.

Key Findings of the Index:

Elderly Population:

• India is currently enjoying the demographic dividend. But the age group above the age of 65 will become the fastest-growing age group by 2050. 
• The share of elders, as a percentage of the total population in the country, is expected to increase from around 7.5% in 2001 to almost 12.5% by 2026, and surpass 19.5% by 2050.
• Further, there will be a significantly higher proportion of women than men in the higher age cohort due to higher life expectancy.

State-wise assessment:

• Rajasthan is the top scorer in the aged states’ category, defined as states with an elderly population of more than 5 million.
• Himachal Pradesh leads in the Relatively-Aged States section (below 5 million population).
• Mizoram leads in the North Eastern States category and Chandigarh among all UTs.

Pillar-wise Performance:

• The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
• Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7. It is at a lower stage due to the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement.
• States have performed particularly worse in the Income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.