NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday warned in a study that its population is going to start to age and it needs to be prepared to merge schools and raise the retirement age.
While India should be set to benefit from the so-called “demographic dividend” over the next decade as its working population is set to increase by about 9.7 million a year between 2021-31, that will quickly fade as the nation’s fertility rate plunges below replacement level.
The conclusions in the study, “India’s Demography at 2040: Planning Public Good Provision for the 21st Century,” will have major implications for many companies, particularly those that have been eyeing consumer demand from India’s young population.
It said the number of children in the 5-14 age bracket will decline significantly, leading to the need for school mergers and less focus on building new ones.
Already states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have fewer than 50 students enrolled in more than 40 per cent of their elementary schools, according to the study, which was included in the government’s annual Economic Survey.
It also said that policymakers need to prepare for an increasing number of elderly people, estimating there will be 239.4 million Indians over the age of 60 in 2041 against 104.2 million in 2011.
“This will need investments in healthcare as well as a plan for increasing the retirement age in a phased manner,” concluded the study, which was authored by India’s Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian and his team of economists. The current retirement age for most government workers in India is 60. — Reuters
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