Abstract:
Globally, life expectancy at birth increased from around 47 years
in the 1950s to 67 in 2008, an increase of 20 years in the space of half
a century. The gain has been impressive among less developed regions,
i.e. 24 years compared to 10 in developed regions (UN, 2007).
South Asia has the world s largest concentration of people living
below the poverty line. Poor delivery of key public services is of particular
concern, ranging from health and education to legal services and road
maintenance. International Year of Older Persons in 1999 and the 2002
Madrid World Assembly on Ageing describes current situation of
population ageing, its causes and consequences and implications at the
policy. Almost all the 15 countries reviewed have put in place an
institutional structure for dealing with issues relating to older people
and framed some relevant policies, plans or laws.
The present paper will highlight the situation of elderly women
with special demographic characteristics and how the cultural and
geographical background affects the situation of elderly women. The
present paper is a review paper aimed at describing the situation of
elderly women influenced by socio cultural characteristics of south Asian
countries.
