Poverty among the elderly in developing countries such as India is on the rise as the traditional extended family unit dissolves, fertility rates decline, migration to urban jobs rises, and government attempts to improve aged care have left many falling through the gaps.

A small minority of workers in the formal sector are secure, but the vast majority of informal sector workers face poverty in their old age because they lack social protection.

To improve the income security of the elderly poor, the Indian government introduced the National Old Age Pension Scheme in 1995, a cash transfer to mitigate poverty faced by the elderly.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2zy3pMA

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/targeting-social-transfers-are-india-elderly-poor-left-behind

Author

Viola Asri, a PhD candidate at the University of Zurich and a visiting doctoral researcher at the Laboratory for Effective Anti-Poverty Policies at Bocconi University in Milan

Know more about ADBI’s research on pensions

http://bit.ly/2f84CWy