Independence of the Elderly and its Consideration from Demographic and Economic Points of View

Abstract

Based on the data of Survey on Independence of the Elderly, 1991, several analyses were made on independence of the elderly. As it is quite difficult to introduce a strict definition of independence, 3 indices were formulated within the limitation of the data as follows: Index X relating to physical and functional independence ; Index Y relating to mental independence ; Index Z relating to economic independence. Index X was well related to health items as well as dependent on sex and age. Concerning Index Y, there were certain sex differences, but age and household structure did not affect on this index very much. Index Z had strong relationship with the main source of income for elderly households. The independence of the elderly has many aspects and requires researches from multiple approaches. As a multi-dimensional approach to the measurement of independence of the Japanese elderly, the following points were raised, among others, for further consideration : -There were 10 combinations of Indices X, Y, and Z, which had incidence rate of 5 per cent or more among the elderly as a whole. The share of the most common 5 combinations did not change between male and female, nor with age, except male at age group 65-69. -Concerning mental independence of the elderly, there might be some structural pattern which were not related to age or household structure. -Index X was quite well related to all 3 items on Consciousness. Life satisfaction rate was quite high irrespective of Index Y or Index Z, but age consciousness was found to be strongly related to Index Y and economic satisfaction with Index Z. -As for the characteristics of female elderly living in one-person household, such combinations of indices as (b, a, a), (c, b, b) appeared more often and (b, b, c) appeared less compared to the other female elderly (see 3.2 for notation). -An artificial age was calculated for each individual elderly from his or her actual age and activity level. The rate of artificial age falling in the same age group as actual age decreased rapidly with age increase from 55 per cent at age group 65-69 to 38 per cent at age group 80-84.