POST RETIREMENT ADAPTATION OF ELDERLY IN KERALA, INDIA

Abstract

India is growing old! The stark reality of the ageing scenario in India is that there are 77 million older persons in India today, and the number is going to grow to 177 million in another 25 years. Kerala, a relatively small Southern state in India, is experiencing the last stages of demographic transition that can be compared to the demographic trend in many aging European countries. Kerala has the highest percentage of elderly population (12.6 %), higher than the national average. Though life expectancy has been increasing steadily in Kerala for the last four decades, the retirement age of the state government employees remained at 55 years until 2011 when it was increased to 56 years. As retirement has become an essential life-stage in older adults, adapting well to retired lifestyle is crucial for long term life-satisfaction of the elderly. Kerala has four lakh pensioners and 12 lakh social security beneficiaries. Though some welfare measures have been taken for the aged persons, these measures are not fool proof. The present paper attempts to capture the dimensions and issues of post retirement adaptation of the elderly in Kerala.Quantitative data were collected from 300 retired elderly from the selected households. The problem is approached from the perspective of changes happening in their social position and relations within their family. The majority of the respondents held that they get the expected care from their spouses after retirement. Though this is a positive sign, the fact that around one tenth of them do not get the expected care invites attention to the emerging situation that the elderly in the state are likely to face more seriously in the coming days.