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Measuring Wellbeing and Quality of Life of Older Persons from Surveys in Developing Asia

Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan

(School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University)

&

John Knodel

(Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, and

College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University)

Presentation at HelpAge Asia Pacific Regional Conference 2016

The Economic Implications of Aging

6-8 September 2016, Hanoi Vietnam

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We examined 25 low- and middle-income countries

• Teerawichitchainan, B. & Knodel, J. (2015). Data Mapping on Ageing in Asia and the Pacific: Analytical Report. Chiang Mai: HelpAge International

• Report is available at http://ageingasia.org/data-mapping/

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Analytical approach: Type of data sources

• Representative ageing surveys: Surveys that

have older persons as the primary respondents and

considerable detail about their situation

• Censuses & Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

Data collection involves administering a household questionnaire to a representative sample of households

Household listing contains information about socio-

demographic characteristics of all household members including older persons

Questionnaires are largely accessible. DHS datasets are mostly available online.

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Data focused on older persons are most available in the two countries

with most advanced population ageing but not exclusively so

Number of ageing surveys for 2000-14 by % population aged 60+ in developing Asia

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Even if % older persons is not high, in most countries

increases in the number of older persons will be

% increase in the number of persons aged 60+ between 2015 and 2050 by % population aged 60+ in 2015

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DHS provides data on quality of housing and household

possessions including households with older persons

Number of DHS for 2000-2014 by % population aged 60+

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WHAT ARE REMAINING DATA GAPS ON AGEING IN DEVELOPING ASIA?

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Key data gaps

• Gap in the health domain • Gap in the domain of family support for the elderly

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Data gap in the health domain

• Common topics include self-assessed health, functional health, and mental health

• Information about health status was gathered primarily via

self-reports • Important domain such as biomarkers of older

persons is available in 3 out of the 25 countries under consideration (China, India, and the Philippines)

• Self-reporting can be problematic for measures such

as non-communicable diseases

Many elderly in developing countries tend to have limited access to health screening and may not be aware of chronic conditions

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Self-reported chronic conditions tend to be positively

correlated with socioeconomic status in Vietnam

Source: Vietnam Ageing Survey 2011

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Data gap in the domain of family support for the elderly

• Due to various demographic shifts, family support for the elderly is an increasingly significant policy concern

• Ageing surveys provide much more comprehensive information about familial support for the elderly than censuses and DHS

• Most ageing surveys contain questions regarding children’s monetary support for ageing parents. Some probe other aspects of support (instrumental, social, and emotional)

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Data gap in the domain of family support for the elderly

• Information about detailed aspects of familial support for the elderly can only be gained from the analyses of ageing surveys, not DHS and censuses.

Less than half of the 25 countries have representative ageing surveys

Patterns and changes in familial support system cannot be examined for these countries

• The nature of reciprocity of intergenerational transfers and older persons’ contribution to the household tend to be absent

Tendency to stereotype older persons as a burden to family and society

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Thank you.

To download the data mapping

report, http://ageingasia.org/data-

mapping/