Demographic Transition and Home Care for the Elderly in Bangladesh: An Urban Rural Comparison

Abstract

During the last few decades, the proportion of elderly people has increased rapidly in Bangladesh. With the increase of elderly people, it is required to increase in the provision of care for them, either informal or formal. Family was the prime informal care giver. However, the traditional concept of family and sources of home care systems have been changed. Besides, the formal care system is very limited and located in the urban areas. The study was an attempt to determine and analyze the vulnerability of the elderly to the home care received in both areas. The respondents aged 60 years and above were interviewed with structured questionnaire. Considering some common characteristics like age, number of children, previous job status, children's job status, living arrangement and others, marginal effect to receive care like financial, practical or personal is estimated using Probit model to address the more influencing factor to be vulnerable. The findings reveal that the elderly are more vulnerable in receiving personal care than practical and financial care in rural areas. The elderly in rural area are financially more vulnerable than urban area. In addition, the elderly in rural area are less vulnerable in receiving care from relatives, friends and neighbors than urban area. Findings suggest that policymakers urgently need to take into consideration to provide home care for the elderly.