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Youngest India also one of the oldest

Scant attention being paid to the rising elderly population of the country

elderly people, aged, ageing population, population in India, demography
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Availability of working-age people to support the elderly will dwindle. (Photo: iSTOCK)

Sugandhi Baliga
What if there is a different side to the discussion on India’s demographic dividend?

It is projected that India will become the world’s youngest country by 2020 with a median age of 29. But in our focus on leveraging this dividend, we are paying scant attention to another reality: India’s rising elderly population. 

In absolute numbers, India already ranks 2nd in the world, in the number of citizens in the 60+ age category, next only to China. Research reveals that by 2050, India will have one out of every six of the world’s elderly persons. It will be the second-largest home of