Active ageing index and elderly abuse in Rajshahi District of Bangladesh

Md. Ismail Tareque, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh and Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan
Ahmed Mohammad Munsur, Nihon Medical School, Japan
Kazuo Kawahara, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan

Bangladesh will face population ageing in between 2025 – 2030. But declining intergenerational support system i.e. reducing all types of families into nuclear family and lack of government facilities constituted the basis of this study which suggests all the people as well as elderly should reach in good health in later life. Therefore, we attempted to find out the relationship among active ageing index (AAI) and some socio-demographic characteristics and the factors affecting elder abuse as well in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh using 896 elderlys’ data. The survey data were collected using probability proportion to size (PPS) sampling technique, funded by social science research council (SSRC), planning division, ministry of planning, the Government of Bangladesh. For constructing AAI, 15 variables have been considered under three categories viz. health, community participation and security dimensions which uncovered that only 3.2 percent are in high active ageing groups. Active ageing groups were found mostly among males, younger and married elderly with high levels of education, who did not suffer from any disease during last 6 months prior to the survey and who lives in urban areas. More than half of rural elderly were abused while sex, educational qualification, health, community participation and security index came out as most important determinants for abuse. The study supports that the concept of active ageing should be popularized to all of the society to live peacefully and to lead good lives in later life.