Critically Understanding Asian Perspectives on Ageing

Abstract

Asian countries are experiencing demographic transition from a young to an increasingly older population. The ageing of populations is unfolding against a context often characterised by persistent poverty, gender vulnerability, economic strain, constricted public resources, and limited civil institutions to support the elderly. Two key interlinked dimensions are important: first, how social and economic changes have affected or will affect the well-being and support situation of present or future older people, and how older people's needs and position in society relate to development and the consequences for policy. The paper identifies the gaps that exist in our understanding of ageing in Asian developing countries and discusses the key issues, tensions and perspectives that characterise current debates at local level and their implications for development in many Asian developing and some transitional countries. The paper urges recognition of ageing and development as part of poverty reduction strategies.

Notes

1 The Asian countries included in this paper are mainly countries from East Asia (China, Democratic Republic of Korea, Mongolia and Republic of Korea), Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) and South Central Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). The paper excludes other Asian countries or territories such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which would not be considered developing countries and the mainly Western Asian countries (such as Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Afghanistan and Iran), as we believe they are culturally and socially different from the other Asian countries.

2 See A Hussain, R Cassen & T Dyson, ‘Demographic transition in Asia and its consequences’, ids Bulletin, 37 (3), 2006, pp 79–87.

3 G Jones, Population and Poverty in Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok: escap, 2002, p 1.

4 Ibid, p 11.

5 A de Haan & M Lipton, ‘Poverty in emerging Asia: progress, setbacks and log-jams’, Asian Development Review, 16 (2), 1998, pp 135–176.

6 S Harper, Ageing Societies: Myths, Challenges and Opportunities, London: Hodder Arnold, 2006, p 1.

7 United Nations Population Division, 2006 World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, at http://esa.un.org/unpp/.

8 Ibid.

9 Harper, Ageing Societies, p 30.

10 Ibid.

11 See, for example, Hussain et al, ‘Demographic transition in Asia and its consequences’.

12 Institutions and social structures that have the capacity to support active ageing in developing countries (especially employment and income generation activities, entitlements such as pensions and complementary public programmes).

13 A Sen, ‘Capability and well being’, in M Nussbaum & A Sen (eds), The Quality of Life, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, p 2.

14 H Khan & W Lutz, ‘How well did past UN population projections anticipate demographic trends in six Southeast Asian countries?’, Asian Population Studies, 4 (1), 2008, pp 77–96.

15 Ibid.

16 N Keilman, ‘How accurate are the United Nations world population projections?’, Population and Development Review—Supplement, 24 (1), 1998, pp 15–41; and Keilman, ‘Data quality and accuracy of United Nations population projections 1950–95, Population Studies, 55 (2), 2001, pp 149–164.

17 V Bengtson & P Oyama, Intergenerational Solidarity: Strengthening Economic and Social Ties, New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Social Policy and Development, United Nations, 2007, p 5.

18 D Rowland, Demographic Methods and Concepts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, p 439.

19 Essentially the cohort component method involves calculating the future size of cohorts, taking into account the effects of fertility, mortality and migration. This basic demographic tool works with five-year steps: each cohort is projected over the first interval, such as from 2000 to 2005, then the projected figures become the base for the next step in the projection, from 2005 to 2010. The method promotes an in-depth appreciation of the means of incorporating information on observed changes in the projection process.

20 K Mason, ‘Family change and support of the elderly in Asia: what do we know?’, Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 7 (3), 1992, pp 13–32.

21 T Wongkaren, ‘The role of Indonesian women in an ageing society’, in K Mehta (ed), Untapped Resources: Women in Ageing Societies Across Asia, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, p 117.

22 A Hermalin, Aging in Asia: Setting the Research Foundation, Asia-Pacific Population Research Reports, 4, 1995, East–West Center, Honolulu. The countries included were Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.

23 Unbalanced sex ratios arising from preferences for sons in parts of East and South Asia.

24 A Varley, ‘Gender, families and households’, in V Desai & R Potter, Companion to Development Studies, London: Hodder Education, 2008, p 349.

25 G Wilson, Understanding Old Age: Critical and Global Perspectives, London: Sage, 2000, p 120.

26 I Aboderin, ‘Changing family relationships in developing nations’, in M Johnson (ed) with V Bengston, P Coleman & T Kirkwood, The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp 469–475.

27 A Varley & M Blasco, ‘Intact or in tatters? Family care of older women and men in urban Mexico’, Gender and Development, 8 (2), 2000, pp 47–55.

28 M Toyota, ‘Ageing and transnational householding: Japanese retirees in Southeast Asia’, International Development Planning Review, special issue, ‘Global Householding in East and Southeast Asia’, 28 (4), 2007, pp 515–532.

29 Jones, Population and Poverty in Asia and the Pacific, p 17.

30 N Gaminiratne, Population Ageing, Elderly Welfare, and Extending Retirement Cover: The Case Study of Sri Lanka, London: Overseas Development Institute, 2004, p 18.

31 S Rajan, M Perera & S Begum, Economics of Pensions and Social Security in South East Asia: Special Focus on India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Trivandrum, India: Centre for Development Studies, 2003.

32 Gaminiratne, Population Ageing, Elderly Welfare, and Extending Retirement Cover, p 19.

33 M Tye, The Third Age: Challenges for an Ageing Vietnamese Population, Working Papers Series, Hanoi: Vietnam Development Forum, 2009.

34 P Lloyd-Sherlock (ed), Living Longer: Ageing, Development and Social Protection, London: Zed Books, 2004.

35 See S Kao et al, Improvement Program for the Rural Elderly in Asia and the Pacific, Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization, 2001. See also A Clunies-Ross, ‘Resources for social development’, Global Social Policy, 1 (4), 2004, pp 197–214.

36 R Lane, ‘Intergenerational relations’, in Young People in a Globalizing World—World Youth Report 2003, New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, 2003.

37 US Social Security Administration (ssa), Social Security Programs throughout the World, Office of Policy and Research Evaluation and Statistics Report No 65, Washington DC: ssa, 1999, p 26.

38 A Hashimoto & C Ikels, ‘Filial piety in changing Asian societies’, in Johnson, The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing, pp 437–442.

39 Office of the Prime Minister, Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Hanoi, 1992, text also available online at http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/poplaws/law_viet/vi_035.htm, accessed 14 December 2008.

40 World Health Organisation (who), Active Ageing: A Policy Framework, Geneva: who, 2002, p 12.

41 J Natividad, ‘Gender and ageing in the Philippines’, in Mehta, Untapped Resources, p 161.

42 M Periago, ‘Longevity and the quality of life: a new challenge for public health in the Americas’, Pan American Journal of Public Health/Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica, 17 (5–6), 2005, pp 297–298.

43 J Knodel, Poverty and the Impact of aids on Older People: Evidence from Cambodia and Thailand, Population Studies Centre Research Report 06-597, Michigan: University of Michigan, 2006.

44 L Willmore, ‘Universal pensions for developing countries’, World Development, 35 (1), 2007, pp 24–51.

45 R England, Aging China: The Demographic Challenge to China's Economic Prospects, Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005, p 57.

46 J Schulz, ‘Economic security in old age: a family–government partnership’, in J Randel, T German & D Ewing (eds), The Ageing and Development Report: Poverty, Independence and the World's Older People, London: Earthscan, 1999.

47 HelpAge International (hai), State of the World's Older People 2002, London: hai, 2002.

48 Debates surround raising the retirement age regularly as life expectancy increases. There are also questions related to the social construction of age stratification, and to the origin and determination of retirement age as representative of structural consequences of production processes.