Socio-Economic and Health Effects of an Aging Population in the Next Millennium: The case of Malawi and Kenya

An aging population is an international phenomenon of growing concern to governments and multilateral institutions. An aging population may be defined as one with increasing proportion of population in the elderly aged group. Recent trends have raised prospects of a rapid aging population structure not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. In developing countries, an aging population has been increasing due to strides in economic development and global advancement in science and technology leading to prolongation of life, mitigation of disease burden and improved living standards. Although this improvement remains at low scale, it makes relative importance over time to start focusing on challenges of aging population which has traditionally been less of a problem in developing countries due to short life expectancy. In discussing socio-economic and health effects of aging population in the next millennium, due consideration is given to the fact that formal sector employment in developing countries is proportionately very small as such very few elderly people might have economic security from pension funds. For example, total employment to population ratio in 2008 was 73% for Kenya and 72.1% for Malawi yet the proportion of employed living on less than US$1.25 a day was 22.9% in Kenya and 79.8% in Malawi (UNDP, 2010). Majority of population rely on agriculture either subsistence or commercial in which low earnings ad inherent poor savings culture undermine their economic security when they get old. Children who are productive become handy in offering social security but this traditional care system is weakening in modern days as a result of increasing capitalist spirit and also the high cost of living which leaves little of disposable income to extend support to aged parents. Aging population presents specific health demands as there are some diseases whose susceptibility increases with age. For example, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are associated with age just as they are associated with affluence.
 

This paper discusses the socio-economic and health effects of an aging population in the next millennium using cases of Malawi and Kenya. We attempt to show the current situation in terms of proportion of aged people to total population, their challenges and what governments and the international community are doing to mitigate the challenges. We envisage continued growth of aged population in the next millennium and advise
governments to seriously find ways of protecting aged population.