Old and miserable

Appearing at the bottom of yet another list, Pakistan has recently been ranked the third-worst country for the elderly out of 91 countries, in terms of social and economic well-being. The ranking appeared in the Global Age Watch Index, created by the Help Age International advocacy group and the UN Population Fund. Aspects of environment, income, education and health — including both, life expectancy at age 60 and healthy life expectancy at age 60 — were examined. Not all that surprisingly, our aging population is not being taken care of. However, for a culture that heavily regards respect for the elderly as a virtue, the study results are perplexing.

Despite the emphasis placed on care for the elderly, there is a lack of facilities in Pakistan for this age group. Examples would include targeted medical care, facilities such as ramps for wheelchairs and a public funded social safety net for the elderly. Providing already low pensions, the government should study the policies implemented by successful, high-ranking nations, when they were emerging economies, to improve the quality of life for the elderly in Pakistan.

While life expectancy in Pakistan has increased from 61 years in 1990 to 65 in 2011, the quality of health in late life is poor. And, as the current above-60 population is expected to teem to over two billion by 2050, taking care of the elderly, which, for Pakistan is already 6.5 per cent of its current population, is something that has to be paid heed to. There is an urgent need to focus on providing affordable healthcare to the elderly, as well as working on increasing pension income coverage for them. Unless the elderly are given priority and policies geared towards their needs, amidst the rising costs of basic necessities, a tanking economy and given the lack of facilities for the elderly, the situation is bound to worsen. We must not let this happen, for it would spell a bleak future indeed, for a majority of us.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2013.

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