Abstract
This paper aims to explore broader patterns of elderly population in Asia
with a special focus on East Asian region. The data taken from Population
Division of United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs
are used to highlight the global, regional and country wise proportion of the
elderly population in the year 2012 and the projections done for increase in
this population by the year 2050. It is observed that the world had 809,743
thousand people aged 60 year or over in the year 2012. It is 11% of the total
world population in the year 2012. The proportion is expected to get
doubled (i.e. 22%) by the year 2050. The number of elderly people also
varies in different geographical regions of the world. Asia comprises 60%
(i.e. 446,974,000 people) of the total elderly population of the world in the
year 2012. North and South East Asia comprising 65% of the total elderly
population of Asia also has the highest proportion of the elderly population
within Asia. North East Asia had the highest proportion of elderly
population (i.e. 15%) with the largest number (i.e. 237,507,000 persons) of
elderly people in Asia in the year 2012. South East Asia has 9% of
population (i.e. 53,152,000 people) of the same age group. In the North East
Asian region, Japan had the highest proportion of elderly population (i.e.
32%) followed by the Republic of Korea (17%), the Democratic Republic of
Korea (14%), and China (13%) of population as aged 60 years or over. At
the same time, China had the largest number of elderly citizens (i.e. almost
180,690,000 persons) in the region followed by Japan (with almost
39,967,000 persons), Republic of Korea (with almost 8,123,000 persons)and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (with almost 3,321,000
persons). In South East Asian region Singapore had the highest proportion
(i.e. 15%) of the elderly population followed by Thailand (14%), Vietnam
and Indonesia (9%), Malaysia and Myanmar (8%), Cambodia (7%),
Brunei, Laos and the Philippines (6%) of the population as aged 60 years or
over. Timore-Leste appears to have the least proportion of aged population
in the region. Indonesia has the largest number of elderly people (i.e. 20,834
people) in South East Asia region. In short, a broader pattern of increasing
proportion of elderly population is observed at global level, in general, and
in Asia, in particular. Although, China is hosting the highest number of
elderly population within East Asian region, but Japan is being crucially
effected with this problem of aging as it is facing the critically highest
proportion of the elderly population (that is 32%) around the world.
Dr. Naima Tabassum, Tabassum Afzal, Huma Tabassum. (2014) AGING IN ASIA: A REVIEW OF AGING POPULATION IN ASIA WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON EAST ASIA REGION, Asia Pacific, Vol-32, Issue 1.
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