Globalization is an historic process increasing rapidly during the 21st century. It has allowed quick and accelerated exchange of goods and services, ideas, culture, technological advances around the world and has bought people close. Despite all the advantages of globalization, it had negatively been affecting ageing across the globe. In this article I will be discussing the impacts of globalization on ageing population of Indonesia. Globalization has a prominent impact on the phenomenon of ageing. Indonesia being the world’s 4th largest populated country is expected to have almost 11% increase in older population by 2035. Currently the productive population of Indonesia is above 200 million which means that in future there will be greater percentage of population ageing.
According to UNO, the older population is increasing and there is a need to balance older population and younger population. Globalization has provided many job opportunities overseas. Men and women both are being provided jobs across the globe. This ultimately has led to increase in employment rate among both men and women. Both men and women are getting higher education and wish to be financially independent first and then getting married. The fertility rate is also decreasing because of late marriages and as a result older population is increasing. The older population is expected to rise up to 2 billion in 2050 and among them almost 80% are expected to live in low-middle income states. Ageing will bring many health and social problems along with it. Instead of considering older population as a burden, we should treat them as a national asset and use them for the development of the country. The elder are much more experienced, educated and have knowledge far better than the younger population.
Keeping in mind the current population of Indonesia, in future demographic changes will occur and low birth rate and low death rate will be observed. The life expectancy in Indonesia has also increased. This shows that the current productive population is going to become a non-productive population and will experience ageing around 2036. The female older population will be greater than the male older population as females tend to live longer than men. The female older population are more vulnerable to economic and social issues in their older age than men.
The intergenerational exchanges are very common in Asian culture. The family is the biggest support system for older people. The family system is evolving in Indonesia, children are moving out from homes, migration among young generation is increasing, fertility rate is decreasing, and many children are unable to support their parents due to economic reasons and lack of time.
In the past, the matter of ageing was not prioritized since the older population was less in numbers. But given the situation of globalization, the children are migrating to cities/ overseas for education and jobs, leaving older people behind. The older population living alone is increasing in rural areas. The older population in urban areas are more likely to co-reside with their children. The older population living in rural areas are prone to more infectious and chronic diseases than the older population living in urban areas. The living standard and health facilities in urban areas are far better than the ones in rural areas. Nursing homes are not yet popular in Indonesia and very few percentages of older population reside in nursing homes.
The government and the policy makers should prioritize this matter. They should start by building nursing homes where the older population is provided with high quality health and food facilities. Programs to engage older population in social activities should be started to reduce their loneliness and isolation. Since higher percentage of older population will be residing in rural areas in low income, the government should pay special attention to such areas and make sure that the older population are getting all the facilities they require for their comfortable living. New policies to be made in pension system to reduce the dependency of older population on others. The government should encourage its citizens and school level children on the importance of old age preparation and its importance.
Published in Daily Country News, December 29th, 2022.
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