{"id":354799,"date":"2026-01-27T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=354799"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:15:32","slug":"geriatric-care-explained-pointwise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/geriatric-care-explained-pointwise\/","title":{"rendered":"Geriatric Care &#8211; Explained Pointwise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The RBI has recently released a new report on the demographic transition happening in the country. The report links demographic change to the long-term sustainability of regional budgets &amp; envisions graceful ageing of the elderly population.<br \/>\nThe <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">care for elderly population in India<\/span> is an emerging challenge with the rapid growth in the number of elderly population in India. With all the focus on demographic dividend, India is also witnessing a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">silent rise in the elderly population in India<\/span>. The need of the hour is to provide adequate care for the elderly population in India.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-354805 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tab-g.png?resize=555%2C363&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Geriatric care\" width=\"555\" height=\"363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tab-g.png?w=555&amp;ssl=1 555w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tab-g.png?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px\" \/><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: solid;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%; text-align: center;\"><strong>Table of Content<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><a href=\"#toc1\">What is the Status of Elderly Population in India?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#toc2\">What is the need for taking care of the Elderly Population in India?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#toc3\">What are the Challenges Faced by Elderly Population in India?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#toc4\">What are the Government initiatives for elderly care in India?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"#toc5\">What should be the Way Forward?<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a id=\"toc1\"><\/a>What is the Status of Elderly Population in India?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The number of elderlies (persons above 60 years) is set to increase from <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">100 million in 2011<\/span> to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">230 million in 2036<\/span>. By 2050, the elderly population is expected to constitute nearly <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">one-fifth of the total population<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Increase in the old age-dependence ratio: <\/strong>The old age-dependence ratio denotes the number of persons aged 60-plus per 100 persons in the age group of 15-59 years. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation\u2019s (MOSPI) &#8216;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Elderly in India 2021<\/span>&#8216; <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">report<\/span>, the old-age dependency ratio is increasing in India. The old age-dependence ratio has increased from <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">10.9% in 1961<\/span> to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">14.2% in 2011, <\/span>to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">15.7% in 2021<\/span> and is projected to increase to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">20.1% in 2031<\/span> respectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_293424\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-293424\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-293424\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Elderly-Population-in-India.png?resize=500%2C416&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Elderly Population in India\" width=\"500\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Elderly-Population-in-India.png?resize=300%2C250&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Elderly-Population-in-India.png?w=767&amp;ssl=1 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-293424\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source- MOSPI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Inter-State Variation:<\/strong> The demographic transition is also not even across the States. According to the RBI report, Kerala &amp; TN will be &#8220;ageing States&#8221; by 2036 because their elderly populations will exceed 22% &amp; 20% respectively. On the other hand, the working age populations of Bihar, UP, Jharkhand will continue to rise beyond 2031, Karnataka &amp; Maharashtra occupy the middle ground &#8211; balancing growth with the onset of ageing pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a id=\"toc2\"><\/a>What is the need for taking care of the Elderly Population in India?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Channelization of experience:<\/strong>\u00a0Elderly peoples carry an <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">immense personal and professional experience<\/span>. We need to channelize these experiences by taking care of the elderly population.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Generational Link:<\/strong>\u00a0The elderly citizens provide a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">vital generational link<\/span> for the upcoming generation, such as <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">providing support<\/span> and<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> stability to families and society at large<\/span>. <strong>For ex-<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Grandparents in joint families<\/span> provide a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">crucial link for transferring values and morals<\/span> to the younger generation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social Harmony:<\/strong>\u00a0The deep cultural impressions and social experiences of the elderly population in India <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">provide the necessary buffer<\/span> against <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">intolerance<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">violence<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">hate crimes<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Moral and ethical responsibility:<\/strong>\u00a0It is the moral and ethical responsibility of the society to care for its people beyond their prime. This helps in <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">reciprocating their lifetime of physical, social, emotional, and economic investment<\/span> in the society.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a id=\"toc3\"><\/a>What are the Challenges Faced by Elderly Population in India?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 4.96418%;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Social Challenges<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 95.0358%;\">\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Social Neglect: <\/strong>Elderlies are increasingly being neglected by the younger generation due to various social reasons such as <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">western education<\/span>, globalisation, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">nuclear family structure<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Abuse of the elderly population:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0Elderlies in India face <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">various forms of abuse<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\"> such as <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">physical<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">sexual<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">psychological<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\"> or <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">financial<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">. They suffer from emotional harm that emerges from verbal or emotional abuse.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Intersection of Caste and Elderly:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0The lower caste elderly have to keep on working for livelihood even at old age due to financial issues. While for the upper caste elderlies, good jobs become less available and they hesitate to take menial jobs which <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">creates a feeling of \u2018worthlessness\u2019<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\"> amongst them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Feminisation of ageing:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0The life of elderly widows is riddled with stringent moral codes of the society. Social bias against elderly women results in <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">unjust allocation of resources<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">neglect<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">abuse<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">exploitation<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">gender-based violence<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">lack of access to basic services<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">prevention of ownership of assets<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 4.96418%;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Economic and Financial Challenges<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 95.0358%;\">\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Lack of Income &amp; Poor financial status: <\/strong>According to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">PFRDA report on Financial Security of India\u2019s elderly<\/span>, a large elderly population which remains outside the pension safety net. Furthermore, the pension provided to them remains very low for their proper sustenance.<\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Low funding by the government:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0India <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">spends only about 1% of its gross domestic product on pensions<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">. India\u2019s income support systems in their current form remain incapable of catering to the old age population.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Lack of housing and other basic amenities:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0The housing available to a majority of the senior citizens are <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">sometimes inappropriate and unsuitable to their requirement<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 4.96418%;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Health Issues and Challenges<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 95.0358%;\">\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Rise in age-related chronic illness: <\/strong>According to the Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI) in 2021, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">One in five elderly persons in India has mental health issues<\/span> and around 75 per cent of them suffer from a chronic disease.<\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">Increasing need for geriatric care:<\/strong><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">\u00a0Increased health-related expenses for the treatment of diseases like <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">Non-Communicable diseases<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">cataract<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: #ff0000;\">hearing loss<\/span><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;\"> etc. creates financial problem for the elderly population.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What are the Government initiatives for elderly care in India?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<table style=\"height: 156px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 28.6642%; height: 36px;\"><strong>National Policy for Older Persons 2011<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 71.3358%; height: 36px;\">The policy aims to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">encourage individuals to make provisions for their own and their spouse during old age<\/span>,<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> to bring non-governmental organizations for caring for older persons<\/span> and to <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">provide healthcare facilities to the elderly<\/span>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 28.6642%; height: 30px;\"><strong>Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 71.3358%; height: 30px;\">The scheme provide an<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> old-age pension<\/span> for persons above the age of 60 years belonging to the BPL category.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 28.6642%; height: 30px;\"><strong>Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 71.3358%; height: 30px;\">The scheme provides <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Physical Aids and Assisted-living Devices for Senior citizens<\/span> belonging to the BPL category.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 28.6642%; height: 30px;\"><strong>Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 71.3358%; height: 30px;\">The scheme aims to provide <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">social security during old age<\/span>. It also protects elderly persons aged 60 and above against a future fall in their interest income due to uncertain market conditions.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 28.6642%; height: 30px;\"><strong>Senior care Ageing Growth Engine (SAGE) Initiative and SAGE portal<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 71.3358%; height: 30px;\">It aims to<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> help startups interested in providing services for elderly care<\/span>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a id=\"toc5\"><\/a>What should be the Way Forward?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Formalization of caregiving economy: <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>According to a NITI Aayog report, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">healthcare offered at home can replace up to 65% of unnecessary hospital visits<\/span> and reduce hospital costs by 20%.<\/li>\n<li>Well-trained caregivers possessing empathetic outlook towards elderly need to be provided formal and better work place conditions.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Recognition of\u00a0 \u201chome\u201d as a place for providing care<\/span> and as a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u201cplace of work\u201d for caregivers<\/span> will be the first step towards elderly care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Comprehensive policy on home based care:<\/strong>\u00a0This policy must include within its ambit the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">streamlining of vocational training<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">nomenclature, roles, and career progression of the caregivers<\/span>. It must also streamline the registry of caregivers, ensure transparency and accountability and establish grievance redressal mechanisms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Strengthening pension systems:<\/strong> The government must allocate a special budget for the elderly population to strengthen the pension systems through better funding and coverage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Replication of Switzerland\u2019s TIME BANK initiative:<\/strong>\u00a0Under this initiative, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">the younger generation start to save \u2018time\u2019 by taking care of senior citizens<\/span>. Later, they can use the saved \u2018time\u2019 when they get old, sick, or in need of someone to take care of them. This initiative must be applied to Indian setup.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Raising of retirement age:<\/strong> India should raise the retirement age in the future, in a phased manner so as not to jeopardize opportunities for younger generations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proactive government policies:<\/strong>\u00a0The Government <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">should proactively work on lifestyle modification<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">non-communicable disease management<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">vision and hearing problem management<\/span>, and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">accessible health care of the elderly population in India<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Silver Economy:<\/strong> Encourage private sector investment in assisted living facilities (with strict quality control), elderly-friendly products, and services.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rationalisation of subsidies:<\/strong> The RBI report recommends the ageing States to rationalize their subsidies to afford rising pension costs &amp; youthful States to invest heavily in human capital.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong> For most of the India&#8217;s elderly, the future looks less like &#8216;graceful ageing&#8217; &amp; more like financial dependency, unless the State drastically expands social pensions, because without a massive expansion of the public geriatric care, the &#8216;graceful ageing&#8217; will be available only to the wealthy.<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: solid;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\">Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/the-hindu-editorial-on-january-27-2026-mind-the-time\/article70553485.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a><br \/>\nUPSC Syllabus- GS 2- Govt policies for vulnerable section<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The RBI has recently released a new report on the demographic transition happening in the country. The report links demographic change to the long-term sustainability of regional budgets &amp; envisions graceful ageing of the elderly population. The care for elderly population in India is an emerging challenge with the rapid growth in the number of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/geriatric-care-explained-pointwise\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Geriatric Care &#8211; Explained Pointwise<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-pm","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}