India Is Becoming A Geriatric Nation. Will Policy Keep Up With The Pace of Ageing?

The same will happen for India as a whole if the country doesn’t rework its elder care policies. If we don’t recognise the changes needed now, we won’t recognise the economy as old age creeps in. 

As millions of Indians grow old, it’s not peptides, but policies that will protect our ageing population. 

The shift in age structure is because of three demographic changes: fewer babies are being born, people are not dying early, and they’re living longer into old age. (For the academics, read: falling fertility, decreasing mortality, and rising life expectancy). 

This is the case world over, and while it’s been recognised as a challenge with economic and social repercussions, it can be rewritten as an opportunity. 

Young India Is Growing Up

India has the world’s largest number of young people. It’s also quietly undergoing a transformation. In 2025, the share of Indians aged over 60 stands at around 10 per cent.

By 2050, this figure is expected to double to over 20 per cent. That’s about 35 crore people, or the population of the entire United States today. 

While Japan has long been known as the world’s oldest country, with the latest data, released this week, putting the elderly population at 30 per cent, China has the largest elderly population in absolute numbers, followed by India and then the US. 

What Do The Shapes Of Countries Tell Us

One way of trying to understand population demographics and how they change is by using population pyramids. These charts illustrate the distribution of the population by age, birth rate, death rate, and sex. 

When a country has more children than older adults, the pyramid has a wide base and a narrow top. It looks the most like an actual pyramid and represents a young, growing population. High birth rate, but also high mortality, characteristic of developing countries, results in this shape. It’s been India’s shape for decades.

As fertility rates decline and life expectancy rises, the pyramid begins to narrow at the base and widen at the top. This is characteristic of developed nations whose pyramids have thicker middles or are even inverted. This signals an ageing population and ultimately shrinking workforce. 

With stable birth and death rates, population pyramids take on a more rectangular shape, which shows an even distribution of age groups. Newly developed countries take on this shape. 

Comparing Economies 

The visualisation below shows the projected shift in global context, comparing India’s ageing population with that of the top 5 economies of the world: the US, China, Germany, and Japan.

India holds the number 4 spot. “Today, we have become the fourth-largest economy in the world. Anyone will be satisfied that we have now left Japan behind and moved ahead,” said Prime Minister Modi earlier this May. 

Use the interactive chart below by clicking on the year and looking at the future populations of the world’s biggest economies. 

Welfare Burden To ‘Silver Economy’

A new report by the Sankala Foundation argues that ageing doesn’t have to mean decline. With the right policies, India can unlock what it calls a “third demographic dividend,” where older adults contribute to the economy through flexible work, caregiving, volunteering, or mentorship. 

The silver economy is the money and jobs that come from serving and involving older people.

Today, nearly 70 per cent of elderly Indians are financially dependent. Many live alone, struggle with chronic illness, and lack access to consistent care. Policy responses so far have been fragmented — from limited pensions to isolated health initiatives. 

There are success stories the report recognises to identify good practices, like Tamil Nadu’s home-based healthcare, Kerala’s age-friendly Kochi city with elder helplines and senior taxis, to Gujarat's community kitchen in a village where most young people have migrated for work. 

While these initiatives show the way, what’s missing is a coherent, integrated framework in the country. 

What India Needs To Do Now

The right reforms will build community, government support systems, and also ensure elder independence and safety. The report calls for a rights-based, future-facing approach. This includes expanding social pensions, improving access to home-based and digital healthcare, building age-friendly infrastructure, and combating ageism in media and employment. 

Building an intergenerational workforce by designing opportunities to reskill, upskill, and increase digital literacy can help address the income insecurity that seniors face.

The inaugural National Conference on Ageing in India, held in New Delhi recently, called for a shift in how policies can be modelled: from reactive to proactive, with investment of thought and finance to make ageing in India a dignified chapter.

The pyramid has begun its inversion. Whether India sees this as a warning or an opportunity depends on what we build next.