Health Status of the Elderly and Their Labor Force Participation in the Developing Countries along the Asia-Pacific Rim

Abstract

The discussions and analyeses presented in this paper indicate the predominant role played by families in providing both financial and emotional support to the elderly in Asia. As represented by their high labor force participation rates by international standards, however, a substantial proportion of old Asians support themselves through employment, mostly in agriculture or other industries with low productivity. On the other hand, the availability of resources through the public support system in still severely limited in most Asian countries. There are a number of indications, however, that as a consequence of fertility and mortality declines, coupled with rapid industrialization and urbanization, family size and strucure have already been shifting in many Asian countries, so that the pattern of support systems, both personal and public, has been changing pronouncedly in recent years.