SOCIAL AND HEALTH STATUS OF AGED PEOPLE OF AHMEDABAD

Abstract

The phenomenon of population aging is becoming a major concern of the world. India's older populations will increase dramatically over the next four decades. The policy of India defines senior citizens or elderly as a person who is aged 60 years or above. Older people have main two problems i.e. Social status and Health. As a social scientist, it is interesting to know about the social status and health of old people. This paper is an empirical survey of 60-70 years old people of Ahmedabad. The main objectives of this paper are to know the primary information of aged people, their social and health status, and problems related to social status and health. The purposive sample of 250 old people was selected from different parts of Ahmedabad. The interview schedule was designed as a tool for data collection. This paper is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the situational analysis of the old population of India and the sociological concept of Ageing. The second part is on methodology. The third part consists of data analysis and discussion of the survey and the final part is on findings and suggestions. The study reveals that till today most of the old people have lived in a joint family. Some have lost their partners. They depend on their children for a living. They spend their leisure time in various activities. Most of the respondents' health is good; their health problems are related with age. They feel the loss of status in a social group. The study makes some recommendations for corrective action