Analysis of elderly bequests and care in Kerala

Abstract

Kerala’s elderly population is rapidly expanding. This is a by- product of the demographic transition and resultant low rates of mortality, fertility and significant improvement in the life expectancy. Elderly people need financial, physical, and emotional support due to increased health care costs, the effects of urbanisation and migration, changes in family size and structure, and other problems and the situation of the elderly can get worse in the coming years. On the one hand, older people save and set aside money and assets out of caution because they are uncertain about the remaining years of life, health expenditure and possible reasons of death. They also have implicit but typically unstated bequest motives that relate to receiving support from their families, neighbours, and community. On the other hand, depending on their hopes for bequests, the assistance offered by the elderly, and the costs associated with maintaining the household, children of the elderly may employ a range of caregiving strategies in addition to acts of generosity. While they struggle to keep up with the financial supplies for care, the elderly in this dynamic game face a variety of care- related vulnerabilities and may seek care for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between elderly’s desires to leave something to their descendants and the care that is given in return to them by the informal organisations in Kerala, across socio- economic classes and gender. The study also investigates the function of institutional care givers in the provision of old age care in Kerala. The study examines how financial security and capital accumulation play a vital role in the care of the elderly. The major data sources used are; Ageing report 2017& 2019, Help age India 2014, BKPAI (Building a knowledge base on population ageing India) survey 2011, NSSO reports of 52nd, 42nd, 60th rounds,1995-96, 1986-87 2004-05, Kerala Ageing Survey (2013, 2016, & 2019), Census Reports of India (2001-2011), Longitudal Ageing Survey of India (LASI-2018). The study also draws inferences from the case studies conducted in Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts in Kerala. Based on the Census 2011, 383 eligible samples were selected through Multi -stage random sampling and the survey have conducted among elderly household of age 60 and above through interview schedule. Low levels of formal care and medium levels of informal care resulted in low level of old age care and high level of old age care gap recipients. Depending upon the elderly’s socioeconomic status, there are variations in the care received. Additionally, the formal versus informal care disparity is large. The study finds no connection between formal and informal old age care. As a result, Kerala’s aged care system heavily relies on informal old age care. Different people have different ideas about why people leave money to their children. When they get older, elders in both altruistic and social norms and tradition groups reduce their financial support for them. However, egotistic parents with a strategic goal are more likely to receive financial assistance from their offsprings in their last years. Age-related reasons for bequests are strongly correlated with socioeconomic levels. It includes information on one’s social standing, such as employment, movable (land and houses) and immovable assets (jewellery, vessels), savings, investments, the total number of family members, region, marital status, NCD, CD, and DD, home ownership, income type, children who live with them, contribution to household expenses, remittance rendered, and social group. Transfers reflects the structural shift from altruistic to strategic character. Land passed down through inheritance, the senior population’s salaries and wages, son remittances, income from animals, and the lack of degenerative diseases are the socioeconomic elements that determine how financially independent the elderly are. The study comes to the conclusion that the dynamic interaction between informal caregivers and elderly family members has helped the elderly become more financially independent, which has led to the comment that Kerala’s elderly population will soon be “an asset, not a burden”.