Social Support System and Old Age Vulnerability: An Investigation in India

Population ageing is increasingly receiving attention in India. With economic development, a sustainable social support system during old age is essential to ensure life-long wellbeing. An accurate estimation of the problem and identification of appropriate vulnerable groups are indispensable for the success of any sustainable social support policy. However, such an attempt is lacking in the literature. Moreover, those, who tried to estimate the old-age vulnerability, mainly adopted the unidimensional vulnerability approach, and considered a single period. The present study, however, argues that vulnerability is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and developed a comprehensive index. Furthermore, using quantitative and qualitative analyses, the study identified the extent of vulnerability among the elderly people across gender, socio-religion identity, household financial status, level of education and geographical residence. The findings have policy implications in presenting a comprehensive tool and identifying the vulnerable social groups to design a sustainable social support system for the older population. JEL Classifications: D69, I31, J12, Z18