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15 million elderly Indians live all alone: Census

TNN | Oct 1, 2014, 07.16 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Almost 15 million elderly Indians live all alone and close to
three-fourths of them are women. In some states like Tamil Nadu the
proportion of such 'single elders' is even higher with one in eleven of
those aged above 60 living alone. One in every seven elderly persons in
India lives in a household where there is nobody below the age of 60. In
states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, a quarter of the elderly
population lives in such all-elderly households.

In states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, a quarter of the elderly
population lives in such all-elderly households.
nobody above the age of 60.
This was revealed in Census 2011 data on the number of elderly people
(above 60 years) and household size released this week. Of the nearly
250 million households in India, 31.3% have at least one elderly person. If
we take away those elderly living alone or in elderly-only households from
this number, just over 27% of households or 68 million households have
elderly living with younger members. In almost 70% of households there is

In rural areas, almost a third of the households (32.5%) have at least one elderly person, whereas in urban areas that proportion
is somewhat lower at about 29%. In rural areas, 28 lakh elderly women live all alone while in urban areas about 8.2 lakh elderly
women live alone. About 12 million elderly live in all-elderly households in rural areas, while 3.7 million elderly live in such
households in urban areas.

Among larger states, Jammu and Kashmir has the lowest proportion of elderly living in all-elderly households, just 5.8%,
followed by Assam and Haryana with 6.5% and 8.7% respectively. J&K also has the least proportion of elderly living all alone in
single-member households, just 1.6%, followed by Haryana and Punjab.
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have the highest proportion of elderly living in households comprising only those over 60
years. Chhattisgarh follows close behind with 24.2% of the elderly living in such households. These three states also have the
highest proportion of elderly living all by themselves in single-member households with Tamil Nadu having the highest
proportion 9.2%.