Grim prospects for a greying population

If the ultimate goal in life is to live long and remain well enough to take care of oneself, the vast majority of Thais appear destined to fail.

The country’s greying population is increasing at a rate far in excess of the speed at which Thailand is becoming a developed nation. The number of people over 65 will double from seven per cent of the populace in 2003 to 14 per cent in 2025. 

The World Bank’s latest report on ageing, titled “Live Long and Prosper”, notes that the practice of children taking care of their elderly parents is becoming a rarity. Old folks are becoming less dependent on their offspring and having to rely more on their own abilities and aid from the state. 

If it hopes to cope with such sweeping changes, Thailand seems to be in an impossible situation. We must try nevertheless, and hope for improvement.

Like most Asian societies, ours was once one of extended families. Economic shifts – affecting labour, housing, migration and the more mundane aspects of lifestyle – have swept all that away. The World Bank reckons that, since the mid-1980s, the once-routine practice of parents living with their adult children has declined steadily, currently involving just 56 per cent of the Thai population. The same has happened in China, cradle of the Confucian concept of families bonding through the generations. Less than half of China’s elderly now live with their grown children. 

In a World Bank survey, more than half of the respondents said the government should be responsible for assisting the elderly, both financially and in terms of personal care. Another 20 per cent believe retired people should be able to look after themselves. Less than 10 per cent felt it was the duty of the seniors’ grown children. 

To be sure, only the government can tackle the enormous effort and expense of providing support for the growing masses of senior citizens. But this unavoidable fact does nothing to allay concerns over another fact – that the elderly simply don’t have enough money. Statistics from 2013 indicated that two-thirds of Thais 60 years of age and older had no savings at all. 

This shortcoming alone establishes that Thailand is nowhere near capable of enabling its grey masses to “live long and prosper”. 

The majority faces a great deal of suffering, with precious few able to make ends meet on monthly government subsidies of between Bt600 and Bt1,000. Living alone aggravates their precarious situation. Seniors with sufficient income or savings will obviously cope better – but not joyfully, since there is little society offers them specifically in the way of amusements.

Government efforts will require substantial backing from the private sector. Housing for the elderly is acutely inadequate, even as more and more residential estates and condominiums spring up for young people. 

In China, private firms are showing some interest in helping the old. One outfit in Guizhou has inaugurated a pilot project worth the equivalent of Bt30 billion, a “seniors’ centre” accommodating 50,000 elderly people as well as their children, complete with recreational facilities. 

Crucially, it’s close enough to the city that the offspring can commute to work. 

Thai corporations need to follow suit. Projects similar to the Guizhou scheme would work well here with our rapidly ageing population. We also need more infrastructure facilities that meet older people’s requirements. While the government spearheads efforts and spreads the word about the breadth of the change underway and the need to prepare, private business can get concrete projects moving. 

In the final analysis, everyone is responsible for providing care to the elderly. We’ll all be grey one day. It would be best to enter our autumn years in the knowledge that we did the right thing for those who went before.