Quality of Life for Elderly Index was released by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Quality of Life for Elderly Index:
The Index has been created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM and it sheds light on an issue often not mentioned- problems faced by the elderly and identifies the regional patterns of ageing across Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
The Index framework includes:
Four pillars: Financial Well-being, Social Well-being, Health System and Income Security, and
Eight sub-pillars: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Wellbeing, Social Security and Enabling Environment.
Key Highlights from the Report:
The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement
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.
Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in Aged and Relatively Aged States, respectively. Chandigarh and Mizoram are top-scoring regions in Union Territory and North-East States category.
The Aged States refer to States with an elderly population of more than 5 million, whereas Relatively Aged States refer to States with an Elderly population of less than 5 million.
Significance: These pillar-wise analyses help States assess the state of the elderly population and identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth
