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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Ageing and poverty in Africa and the role of social pensions | | Author(s) | Nanak Kakwani, Kalanidhi Subbarao |
| Corporate Author | Africa Human Development, World Bank |
| Publisher | Electronic format only, March 2005 |
| Pages | 36 pp (Sector report 32178) |
| Source | Downloaded document (12/9/05) : http://www-wds.worldbank.org |
| Keywords | Old persons pensions ; Poor elderly ; Social economics ; Social surveys ; Africa. |
| Annotation | In many low income African countries, three factors are placing an undue burden on older people: the increase in mortality of prime age adults due to HIV/AIDS and regional conflicts; the traditional safety net of the extended family has become ineffective and unreliable; and in a few countries, older people are called upon to become families' principal breadwinners and caregivers for young children. This study systematically analyses the poverty situation among older people (relative to other groups) in low income countries in Africa, and the role of social pensions. It draws on household survey information to profile older people for 15 African countries, including countries with high and low prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The findings show much heterogeneity across countries with respect to the proportion of the older population, the living arrangements and the composition of households, and household headship. Variations in household types and living arrangements presumably reflect changes in the traditional family support system and household coping strategies in the wake of covariate shocks and HIV-AIDS. However, the proportion of single older people is still very small in most countries. A household type "elderly and children" or what is known as "skipped generation household" has emerged in some countries, while in several countries, "households headed by the elderly" are significant, too. The analysis shows that the poverty situation - and especially the poverty gap ratio for household types older people only, older people with children, and households headed by older people - is much higher than the average in several countries, and the differences are statistically significant. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050912213 E |
| Classmark | JJD: F:W6: W4: 3F: 7J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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