Old doddering Indian man with white hair and beard in Agra

From the archive record

A middle aged man helps an old man as he crosses road in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. In India the size of the elderly population, i.e. persons above the age of 60 years is fast growing although it constituted only 7.4% of total population at the turn of the new millennium. For a developing country like India, this may pose mounting pressures on various socio economic fronts including pension outlays, health care expenditures, fiscal discipline, savings levels etc. Again this segment of population faces multiple medical and psychological problems. There is an emerging need to pay greater attention to ageing-related issues and to promote holistic policies and programmes for dealing with the ageing society. The elderly population (aged 60 years or above) account for 7.4% of total population i