BRING IT ON

Indians look forward to old age way more than anyone else

Good old days.
Good old days.
Image: AP Photo/John Raoux
By

It may be called the “sunset years” or the “twilight of our lives,” but most Indians look forward to their old age.

Only about a quarter of Indians expressed a lack of enthusiasm for their retirement lives, according to an online survey of over 20,000 adults in 28 countries by the UK-based market research firm Ipsos. This is the lowest share among all the surveyed regions, which included the US, Great Britain, and China.

The optimism is underpinned by faith in technology. Indians worry less about ageing because they believe technological developments will help make their lives easier during old age, the survey found.

Indians also have the lowest age bar (62) for a person to be considered old. People in most other countries that were polled mark the arrival of old age in the late 60s or even early 70s.

About half of Indian respondents agreed that people do not respect the elderly well enough. But this share is still among the lowest in the world.

However, Indians agreed more strongly than the overall group about the elderly having too much political power.

Indians were also the fourth-greatest believers of the idea that it is a young person’s job to care for ageing relatives.