Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Chandigarh lead the rankings in relatively-aged states, north eastern states and union territories categories respectively. The index ranks states on financial well-being, social well-being, health system and income security for elderly people in the state.
As per the index, prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness, aged states refer to states with an elderly population of more than five million whereas relatively aged states refer to states with an elderly population of less than five million.
As per the index, the health system across states have been most robust for the elederly with highest national average of 66.97 followed by all-India average of 62.34 in social well-being parameter, 44.7 under the financial well-being indicator and a national average of 33.03 in income security for the elderly.
“Financial well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 states across the education attainment and employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement,” the report said.
According to the report, states have performed particularly worse in the income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average, i.e., 33.03 in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.
“India is often portrayed as a young society with a consequent demographic dividend. But, as with every country that goes through a fast process of demographic transition, India also has a greying cum aging problem,” Bibek Debroy, chairman, EAC-PM said, adding EAC-PM had requested Institute for Competitiveness to do a report on issue that is often not mentioned- the problems faced by the elderly.
The idea of the report is to help states assess the state of the elderly population and identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth.