Introduction

In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of older persons worldwide (Hafez, 2000) and more old people are alive nowadays than at any time in history (McMurdo, 2000). The proportion of the population 60 years and over is also growing each year. By the year 2025, the world will have 1.2 billion people aged 60 and over, which will rise to 1.9 billion in 2050 (United Nations, 2003).

The increasing importance of the studies on ageing and senior citizens has been emphasized by a series of national and international conferences and seminars. In India, over the past two decades a number of studies have focused on one or more issues of ageing (De Souza, 1981; Desai, 1982; Bhatia, 1983; Sahayam, 1988; Reddy, 1990; National Sample Survey Organisation, 1991; Chandra, et al., 1993; Chakraborty, 1993; Mahanta, 1993; Singh, et al., 1994; Asharaf, 1995; Audinarayana, et al., 1996; Rajan, et al., 1999).

India has not yet come out with an appropriate policy framework to provide social security for the elderly. According to projections by the UN Population Division, there will be two elderly persons for every child in the world by 2050. This implies that those aged 60 and above, which currently constitute less than 20% of the population, will account for 32% of the population by 2050. This growth in the size and share of the elderly population will affect many aspects of economic development, including national labor forces. Many older people have no savings, low wages, a lack of job security, poor health, no economic support from their children, just enough earnings to make ends meet, and little help from their friends and communities.

Gender is an important aspect of ageing in part because women predominate among the elderly; lower mortality among women has resulted in an imbalance in the sex ratio among older persons in almost all countries, with women out numbering men particularly among the oldest people. (Mason, 2001). Gender also influences the relative access of older men and women to family assets both before and after the death of a spouse (Rahman et al., 2009).

Economic well-being depends both on the ability of current income and in-kind services to meet consumption needs and on future income flows, assets, and insurance holdings that can be drawn upon to cover the costs of uncertain contingencies (Hurd and Rohwedder, 2006; Danigelis and McIntosh, 2001). In addition, economic satisfactions also vary by gender. Higher economic satisfaction generally leads to higher life satisfaction particularly in a country where most of the people are living below the poverty line. In terms of financial satisfaction, males experience more economic satisfaction than females. Generally, males enjoy more independence and financial security than females.

In the recent past, studies were carried out on different dimensions on the elderly. Doris Padmins, et al. (2010) studied economic wellbeing and morbidity aspects. Danigelis and McIntosh (2001) and Rahman, et. al. (2010) examined gender and economic support whereas Rao (2007) studied economic and financial aspects of ageing in India. Keeping these in view, an attempt has been made in this paper to study the economic satisfaction of the elderly in rural Tamilnadu, which is specifically focused on the Madurai district.

Objectives

The primary objectives of this paper are: (1) to study the socio-demographic, economic and household characteristics of the rural elderly population; (2) to explore gender differentials of the rural elderly population in their socio-demographic, economic and household characteristics; and (3) to understand the relationship of socio-demographic and household characteristics with economic satisfaction of the rural elderly population.

Data and Method

The Madurai district has been chosen for the study. The rationale behind selecting this district is that the share of the elderly in the district is closer (8.5%) to that of Tamil Nadu (8.8%). This district is an average district in most of the demographic, socio-economic and health characteristics. There are seven Taluks in Madurai district namely (1) Madurai North, (2) Madurai South, (3) Melur, (4) Peraiyur, (5) Thirumangalam, (6) Usilampatti, and (7) Vadipatti, according to the 2011 Census. Taluk or Tahsil in Hindi is an administrative division that consists of a city or town that serves as its headquarters, possibly additional towns, and a number of villages. Based on the number of villages, Madurai North Taluk was selected because it was found to have more villages compared to other Taluks. There were 186 villages in Madurai North Taluk. Out of these villages, the following four were selected through a disproportionate stratified random sampling: (1) Samayanallur, (2) Tiruppalai, (3) Narasingam, and (4) Kodikulam. These four had more households compared to other villages in the Taluk. The required data for this study were collected from 160 elderly people (60 years and above) from four villages of the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. The study participants were comprised of 80 males and 80 females who were contacted through household surveys and personal interviews, with the help of a well-administrated and pre-tested interview schedule.

In today's society, age-based prejudices and discrimination are firmly embedded. Therefore, the word like 'elderly' has in itself acquired a negative connotation. For practical purposes, we define elderly as those people who have crossed a given life span, 65 years in developed countries and 60 years in developing countries like India. As the Government of India as well as the Government of Tamil Nadu recommends the welfare programmes for the elderly to those who are 60 years and above, this study also considers the same age criteria for its respondents.

The data collected from the household survey were age, sex, religion, caste, marital status, completed years of education, family income, and ownership of the house, toilet and bathroom facilities. The items of information collected through personal interview were the level of physical and economic support from their children, level of their satisfaction in getting such supports, and their present need and perception for their happy survival. The data were evaluated and analysed using SPSS Software. A multivariate technique named multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the effect of several variables on economic satisfaction of the elderly population. Content analysis was done to capture the perception of the elderly on the availability of economic and physical support from their children and the level of their satisfaction.

Results and Discussion

The demographic and social characteristics, economic characteristics, and household characteristics and their association with economic wellbeing of the rural elderly are discussed in detail with the help of results obtained through bi-variate and multiple linear regression analyses. Elderly people's perception of the availability of economic and physical support from their children and the level of their satisfaction are also discussed.

Perceptions of the Elderly on Economic and Physical Support

This section discusses the perceptions of the elderly from the interviews regarding the availability of economic and physical supports from their children and the level of their satisfaction. The issues related to the availability of old-age pension and suggestions for improvement in their wellbeing are also discussed.

Findings, Suggestion and Conclusion

Most of the elderly were in the age-group 60-69 years, where more males were older and more females were old, which indicates the males' higher age than the females. More males were married and more females were widowed, which indicates women live longer than men. While observing the social characteristics of the elderly, more males were Hindus and Christians, and more females were Muslims. More males belonged to SC/ST, and more females belonged to BC. Most of the elderly females were educated up to the primary level, and most of the males were educated up to high school education and above, indicating a gender difference in education.

Most of the elderly males lived with their spouses, and most of the elderly females lived with their children. This implies the gender characteristics that the grandmothers are more closely associated with the family members, especially daughters and grandchildren, than the grandfathers who mostly feel comfortable with grandmothers.

More male elderly were engaged in industry and more female elderly were housewives and did not work. This indicates the traditional gender roles of males going out of the house for earning and females taking care of the household activities and children. The majority of the elderly males reported that the source of their income was occupation, as opposed to the elderly females whose income source was their children. This reveals the close association of elderly females with daughter-in-laws, grandchildren, and household activities, in contrast to elderly men. Most of the elderly men had an average monthly income Rs. 3001-5000, while most of the elderly females had an average monthly income upto Rs. 5000. In most of the informal sectors including agriculture, the wages of the males are higher than that of females in India—and villages of Madurai district are not exception to that. Most of the elderly males were independent as opposed to most of the elderly females who were partially dependent. This reveals the existence of traditional predominance of men handling money and important properties more so than women.

More males headed the family as compared females, whose families were headed by their children. Generally it is observed in Tamil Nadu and most of the Indian states that when the women happen to lose their husbands, their children take the lead and run the family. While more elderly males lived in kutcha houses, more elderly females lived in huts. More elderly males owned house and more elderly females lived in rented houses. More elderly females used water available through street-tap, and more elderly males used water from their own tap. While, more elderly females had bathroom facilities within the house, more elderly males had the facility outside the house. This implies that rural males prefer to go out for toilet or bathing, as the fields are open and irrigation ponds available. As far as the cooking fuel used by the elderly is concerned, more elderly females lived in the house using cooking LPG gas as compared to elderly males who mostly used firewood.

The marital status of the rural elderly has been the most positive significant variable to an increase in economic wellbeing, whereas, the variable living arrangement was found to be the most negative significant one. Variables like gender, age and working status have also been found to be positive, indicating an increase in these variables towards economic wellbeing.

The content analysis from the personal interviews reveals that the elderly suffer either by not receiving sufficient economic support, physical support, or both to some extent. This is due to the rising cost of living, less or no reliable employment opportunities in the village, and increasing nuclear families—even in villages. They need to be equipped with employment opportunities and other educational and health infrastructural facilities at the locality with the help of the initiatives of the government. The government needs to see the possibility of proper implementation of an old age pension scheme and other related programmes benefiting all the elderly people who are in need, irrespective of socio-economic criteria. The married children have to be made aware of the importance of caring for elderly parents and the legal provisions.