Aging Reflects as a Socio-Economic Challenge in Asia: A Sociological Appraisal

Sociology generally appraises various social and economic aspects of human life. One of the current issues of human life is known as aging. Various results of the development of science and technology have contributed to increasing life line/further aging. Though aging is appraised in some parts of the world, it is a challenge for other parts. Many aging people in such parts are deprived of sufficient income, health care facilities, housing, nursing and the like in their old age. Almost all the countries in Asian context are growing old. Some like Japan and South Korea are in a better position, whereas many in south and west Asia are not in an easy situation. It is worth mentioning that many people in their old age are not productive, but are only a happy resource for their children. Under such circumstances aging is continuing in an uncontrolled way. So, it is the social scientists who must predict and appraise the scenario appearing. In addition, it is the governments that must plan for such a new category of emerging people. Aging people as merely consuming people, have their own particular needs and habits. Their needs also usually increase followed by their aging. Therefore, governments need to allocate special budget to such people out of their annual GNP. If such a mechanism is not put into effect, aging people's lives will not continue in a satisfactory manner. The process of creating social categories based on age is known as age grading and aging, and varies from culture to culture, and from one historical period to another. One of our objectives in this paper is to find out the connotation of such changes in Asia. Though population aging or graying is due to increased longevity, and declining birth rare, and more prevalent in industrial world, yet it is entering the developing Asia too.