By 2050, one-fifth of India will be senior citizens

Senior citizens will constitute one-fifth of India's total population by 2050, a national consultative report revealed Wednesday.

The report titled "Aspiration for the Elderly in India" by the India Backbone and Implementation Network (IbIn), an organisation working to identify the bottlenecks in policy implementation and promoting better coordination, said: "Proportion of the 'senior citizen population' in India has shown a steady increase from 7.4 percent in 2001 to 8.2 percent in 2011. The figure is likely to touch almost 20 percent by 2050."

It further states that over 60 percent of the Indian elderly are financially dependent on others for their daily care, which is the prime reason for their poor health.

"The financial dependence, ill health, disability, social exclusion and even abuse has weighed down the elderly citizens in India, in the last couple of years," said the report.

The report also highlights the identification of the challenges and opportunities for improving the quality of life of the elderly and then addressing the issues and concerns.

Syeda Hameed, Planning Commission member, who launched the report emphasised the importance of collaboration between the government agencies and various private stake holders, so that they can combine their expertise to strengthen the work towards the elderly.

The report addresses different aspects of the life of the elderly across varying socio-economic strata of the society.

Touching on five domains including health, social finance, empowerment and legal, the report presents the innovative options for the government, other agencies and individuals to develop and implement them.

IbIn was launched by the Planning Commission in April 2013.