LTCcovid Country Profiles

Responses to 1.01. Population size and ageing context

The LTCcovid International Living report is a “wiki-style” report addressing 68 questions on characteristics of Long-Term Care (LTC) systems, impacts of COVID-19 on LTC, measures adopted to mitigate these impacts and new reforms countries are adopting to address structural problems in LTC systems and to improved preparedness for future events. It was compiled and updated voluntarily by experts on LTC all over the world. Members of the Social Care COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery project moderated the entries and edited as needed. It was updated regularly until the end of 2022.

The report can be read by question/topic (below) or by country: COVID-19 and Long-Term Care country profiles.

To cite this report (please note the date in which it was consulted as the contents changes over time):

Comas-Herrera A, Marczak J, Byrd W, Lorenz-Dant K, Patel D, Pharoah D (eds.) and LTCcovid contributors.  (2022) LTCcovid International living report on COVID-19 and Long-Term Care. LTCcovid, Care Policy & Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science. https://doi.org/10.21953/lse.mlre15e0u6s6

Copyright is with the LTCCovid and Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, LSE.

 

Overview

Global ageing context

Population ageing is a global phenomena, as most countries see a growth in the size and the proportion of older people in their population, although between 2009 and 2019 population ageing has been fastest in parts of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (source: UN: World Population Ageing).

In 2019, out of a global population of nearly 7,713 million people in 2019 (https://population.un.org/wpp/), 703 million people were aged 65 years or over. The latter number is expected to grow to 1.5 billion by 2050, when older people would represent 16% of the global population. The number of people aged 80 and over is expected to grow from 143 million in 2019, to 426.4 in 2050, with the largest increases projected for Northern Africa, and Western Asia (source: UN: World Population Ageing).

Population ageing and LTC demand

In the absence of global estimates on the numbers of people who receive care from others and are supported by LTC services, increases in the numbers of older people are often used to approximate expected increases in need for care. This is because, while there are many reasons why people rely on care and support that are not linked to age, as people reach older ages, they are more likely to need some support from others in their daily lives.

Moreover, despite some evidence of compression of disability at old ages, the review of evidence on whether increasing life expectancies in Europe translate into more years lived in better or worse health, showed mixed results, with considerable differences between countries (Rechel et al. 2020). Consequently, as the proportion and total number of older people increases, health and care systems in many countries are expected to face increased demand for care and support (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation; 2021 Long-term care in the EU).

References:

Rechel, R. Jagger, C., McKee, M. (2020) Living longer, but in better or worse health? WHO European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

International reports and sources

Global data

The World Health Organization’s Ageing Data Portal brings together data on global indicators to monitor the health and well-being of older people:  https://www.who.int/data/maternal-newborn-child-adolescent-ageing/ageing-data. 

United Nations provides data on global population projections: https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Jan/un_2019_worldpopulationageing_report.pdf.

European data

Eurostat has data on demography, population stock and balance, as well as population projections in Europe

2021 Long-term care report Volume 1 and Volume 2 – Publications Office of the EU provides some information on population ageing and LTC in Europe

Australia has a population of just over 25 million people. In 2019, 15.9% of Australia’s population were over the age of 65 and 2% of the population is over the age of 85.  Australians are living longer than ever before. The number of Australians aged 85 years and over is expected to increase from 515,700 in 2018–2019 to more than 1.5 million by 2058 (sources: Statista; Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety).

Last updated: February 15th, 2022   Contributors: Adelina Comas-Herrera  |  Ben Admin  |  

In 2016 Austria had a population of 8.6 million, of whom 0.81 million required help from others to carry out activities of daily life (European Commission, 2019). Furthermore, 18.2% of the Austrian population (1.5 million people) are aged 65 years and older, with demographic ageing being observed particularly in rural areas. Approximately 20% of Austrians with LTC needs live in one of the 930 care homes. These homes, on average, can house about 80 people (Leichsenring et al. 2021).

References: 

European Commission (2019) Joint Report on Health Care and Long-Term Care Systems & Fiscal Sustainability, Retrieved from: Country Documents 2019 Update (europa.eu) 

Leichsenring, K., Schmidt, A.E., Staflinger, H. (2021). Fractures in the Austrian model of long-term care: What are the lessons from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic? Journal of Long-Term Care, 2021, 33-42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31389/jltc.54

Last updated: February 2nd, 2022

As of 2019, the total population in BC is 5,071,336. There are 948,062 people over the age of 65 and 118,479 people over the age of 85 (source: https://bcstats.shinyapps.io/popApp/).

Last updated: February 11th, 2022

In 2017 there were nearly 3,500,000 people aged 60 or over in Chile, of whom 14.2% (489,000) had some degree of functional dependency (Browne et al., 2020).

References

Browne J, Fasce G, Pineda I, Villalobos P (2020) Policy responses to COVID-19 in Long-Term Care facilities in Chile. LTCcovid.org, International Long-Term Care Policy Network, CPEC-LSE, 24 July 2020.

Last updated: December 22nd, 2021

In 2020, there were 10,101,777 inhabitants in the Czech Republic. The total increase this year was 7.8 thousand inhabitants, the lowest in the last decade, while the decrease was 19.1 thousand, which was the largest in the last 100 years.

The population in the three main age groups in 2020 developed in the same direction as in previous years. The child population (0–14 years) grew by 9.5 thousand persons to 1.72 million year-on-year and thus represented 16.1% of the total population. The number of older people (aged 65 and above), which has been growing since the mid-1980s, has grown by a further 26.7 thousand to 2.16 million, and for the first time in its history its share in the population has exceeded 20% of the total residents. The increase in the share of people aged 65+ in the population of the Czech Republic was due to strong vintages – people born in the second half of the 1940s, and a long-term increase in life expectancy. However, for both children and seniors, the growth rate in 2020 was the lowest in the last ten years. The number of people of working age (15–64 years) has a declining trend in the last twelve years, in 2020 it decreased by 28.4 thousand to 6.82 million people, which was 63.8% of the total population.

From 2011 to the end of 2020, the average age of the Czech population increased by less than two years to 42.6 years. The index of economic dependence, which indicates the number of persons in the non-productive age (0–19 years and 65+ years) per 100 persons in the economically productive age (20–64 years), increased from 55 to 69 in the given period.

In 2020, mortality was fundamentally affected by the epidemic situation associated with the occurrence of covid-19. During the year, almost 129.3 thousand people died, which was 15.1% more than in 2019, while in previous years the annual declines were below 3.5%. The greatest impact of the epidemic in 2020 was observed in the age groups 75-79 and 80-84, where the number of deaths increased by more than one-fifth year-on-year – in each group by more than 3,000, and in the highest group 100+ there was an increase of two-fifths .

In 2020, diseases of the circulatory system caused the deaths of 36.5% of all men who died and 43.1% of women who died, their lower proportion being affected by the fact that a large proportion of the total number of deaths were attributed to covid-19. The second place in men and women has long been occupied by neoplasms, whose share in the total number of deaths has been relatively stable in the last decade at around 28% for men and 23% for women. In third place was placed in 2020 by a group called “Codes for special purposes”, which was filled in the Czech Republic only by covid-19. A total of 10,539 people died of the disease (8.2% of all deaths), of which 5,938 were men (8.9% of all men who died) and 4,601 women (7.3% of women who died). The fourth most common cause of death (with a share of 7.0% in men and 5.8% in women) in 2020 was respiratory diseases. Fifth, endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, which make up more than four-fifths of diabetes mellitus, ranked fifth overall. Other causes include external causes – injuries, traffic accidents, diseases of the digestive and nervous systems (Source: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/aktualni-populacni-vyvoj-v-kostce).

 

Last updated: February 3rd, 2022   Contributors: Martina Paulíková  |  

In 2021, Denmark had a population of just under 6 million; 19.4% of the population were over 65, with 4.1% over 80 and 1.9% over 85 (source: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik). These numbers are expected to rise significantly, and according to calculations from Statistics Denmark, by 2053, 10% of the population will be over 80 (source: https://www.sst.dk/da/viden/aeldre). The ageing of the population has been driven by increases in life expectancy which has otherwise been low in comparison to other Nordic countries. In 2021, women could  expect to live until the age of 83 years and men until 80 (source: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/borgere/befolkning/middellevetid).

Last updated: June 5th, 2023

The current population of Finland is 5,546,270. As of 2019, the number of people aged 70 and over was 874,314. Finland is a rapidly aging country, with the number of people over 70 growing by 100,000 in just three years (source: https://findikaattori.fi/en/14).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022

France has a population of 67.1 million (2018). In 2018 19.6% of the population were aged 65 years and older (13.1 million people) (source: Statistics France).

In 2015, around 2 million people over the age of 60 were in need of support for activities of daily living, of which 1,459,000 were living at home and 584,000 were living in residential or nursing homes. (source: Sante France) 

Last updated: October 22nd, 2024   Contributors: Camille Oung  |  

General population

By the end of 2021, Germany had a population of 83.2 million (Destatis, 2022).

Population 65 years and above

In 2018, 22% of the population (17.9 million people) were aged 65 years and older (Lorenz-Dant, 2020). Furthermore, population age is not distributed evenly across the country. In 2017, the share of population in the age of 65 years and older was higher in the Länder of eastern Germany (24%) than western Germany (21%) (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung, 2021).

People with long-term care needs

According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in 2019 there were 4.1 million people with long-term care needs, 62% women (Destatis, 2020) . Given the uneven distribution of older people across the country outlined above, a difference can also be observed between the share of people living in residential care. Out of 100,000 residents living in the eastern states, there are 488,2 persons in need of long-term care compared to 394,0 in the western states (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung, 2021).

References

Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (2021) INKAR – Indikatoren und Karten zur Raum- und Stadtentwicklung. Available at: https://www.inkar.de/ (Accessed 31 January 2022).

Destatis (2020) Pflegebedürftige nach Versorgungsart, Geschlecht und Pflegegrade. Available at: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Gesundheit/Pflege/Tabellen/pflegebeduerftige-pflegestufe.html;jsessionid=ADFD935F5EE5A0113BFA74036FB518B2.live741 (Accessed 11 February 2022).

Destatis (2022) Press – Once again no population growth expected for 2021. Available at: https://www.destatis.de/EN/Press/2022/01/PE22_027_124.html  (Accessed 3 February 2022).

Lorenz-Dant, K. (2020) Germany and the COVID-19 long-term care situation. LTCcovid, International Long Term Care Policy Network, CPEC-LSE, 26 May 2020. Available at: https://ltccovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Germany_LTC_COVID-19-26-May-2020.pdf (Accessed 3 February 2022)

Last updated: February 13th, 2022   Contributors: Klara Lorenz-Dant  |  Thomas Fischer  |  Kerstin Hämel  |  

WHO has estimated that in Ghana, more than 50% of people between the ages of 65 years and 75 years require some assistance with daily activities. For those 75 years and older, the percentage jumps to more than 65% (source: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241513388).

Last updated: August 3rd, 2021

In 2015, the total population of Israel was 8.46 million, of whom 939,000-11%- were aged 65 and over. One in four households in the country included a person aged 65 or more (source: Brookdale Report).  

Last updated: February 11th, 2022   Contributors: Sharona Tsadok-Rosenbluth  |  

In 2020, 23.2 % of the total population in Italy was 65 years and older, the share of older people in the Italian society has been growing constantly in recent years. According to 2019 data, the country was considered to have the largest percentage of elderly population in Europe. This share is projected to rise up to 34% by 2045.

In 2019, 32.5% of people aged 65 and above reported living with chronic diseases, rising up to 47.7% among those abed 85 and over. 1 million persons aged 65+ require care or support devices.

Last updated: February 4th, 2022   Contributors: Eleonora Perobelli  |  Elisabetta Notarnicola  |  

Japan has one of the largest populations of older adults in the world. In 2020, 28.4% of the population was over the age of 65 (source: https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/pdf/2020all.pdf#page=23).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022

The population of Malaysia is roughly 32.4 million (World Bank). Since 2014, the share of the population over age 65 has been increasing; it went from 5.6% in 2014 to 7% in 2020. Malaysia therefore faces the prospect of an aging population; this may happen by 2030 (Statista).

The National Policy Order for Older Persons (2011) defines an older person in Malaysia as someone aged 60 years or older (Hasmuk et al., 2020).

References:

Hasmuk K, Sallehuddin H, Tan MP, Cheah WK, Rahimah I, Chai ST (2020) The Long-Term Care COVID-19 Situation in Malaysia available at LTCcovid.org, International Long-Term Care Policy Network, CPEC-LSE, 2 October 2020.

Last updated: February 16th, 2022   Contributors: Daisy Pharoah  |  

There was a 0.3% increase in Malta’s population from 2019 to 2020; the estimated population of residents of Malta and Gozo standing at 516,100 at the end of 2020.  People aged 65 and over amounted to 18.9% of the population, and 2,223 females and 984 males were aged 90 years and over. There was a 10.7% increase in the resident deaths in 2020 from 2019 largely, owing directly or indirectly to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In 2020, 4,084 resident deaths were registered, of these, 66% were people aged 75 or over, deaths among this group increased by 12.5% of deaths compared to 2019 (source: https://nso.gov.mt/en/News_Releases/Documents/2021/07/News2021_122.pdf).

Malta, together with other Southern European, is part of the oldest region in the world where 21% of the population is aged 65 years and over (source: https://www.prb.org/resources/countries-with-the-oldest-populations-in-the-world/).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022   Contributors: Maria Aurora Fenech  |  

The Government of Mauritius foresees rising rates of dementia and disability and increased overall demand for long-term care. It is planning for a 52% increase in publicly funded residential bed capacity by 2030 (source: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241513388).

Last updated: August 3rd, 2021

The population of The Netherlands is around 17.4 million (source: World Bank) and the median age is 43.3 years (source: Worldometres).

In 2021, 20.5% of the total population of The Netherlands was over age 65 and just under 5% was over 80 (source: Statista).

Last updated: February 5th, 2022   Contributors: Daisy Pharoah  |  

The population of Pakistan is 220.9 million, making it the sixth most populous country in the world, although it is projected to become the third most populous country by 2050. Pakistan has a predominantly young population, but in line with global trends, the elderly population in Pakistan is rising. In 2020, the population over age 60 was 6.7 million people; this is expected to rise to 40.6 million by 2050 (United Nations). In part, this is due to increasing life expectancy in Pakistan (although this is still low by global standards) (The Global Economy).

Pakistan is a developing country, with significant economic difficulties, lack of a health insurance coverage system, and low levels of savings among older people. This poses real challenges for the elderly population. Retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women, although many do not stop working at this age.  Due to frail provision of pensions, most people work until their final days, and/or rely on their next generation to provide for them during retirement  (Jalal et al, 2014).

References:

Jalal, S., Younis, M.Z. 2014. Aging and Elderly in Pakistan. Ageing Int 39, 4–12 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-012-9153-4

Last updated: January 27th, 2022   Contributors: Daisy Pharoah  |  

Poland has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the European Union (EU): by 2060, the proportion of the population aged 65–79 is expected to double and the proportion of the population aged 80+ is expected to triple (Golinowska et al. 2017).

References:

Golinowska, S., Sowa-Kofta, A. (2017) ‘The Polish policy landscape. Retrieved from CEQUA: Poland Country Report

Last updated: February 10th, 2022   Contributors: Joanna Marczak  |  Agnieszka Sowa-Kofta  |  

In 2020, the population was 51.27 million out of which 8.10 million (16%) were aged 65+. This proportion is projected to almost 43% by 2060 (source: The-Long-Term-Care-COVID19-situation-in-South-Korea-7-May-2020.pdf).

Last updated: November 25th, 2021

The total population of Romania in 2019 was 19.4 million inhabitants, registering a decline of 0.4 million with respect to 2015, as result of low natality and external migration.

The age structure of the Romanian population bears the characteristic marks of a rapid demographic ageing process. While the total population has declines over the past 5 years, the group aged 65 and over has increased by 225.2 thousand persons over the same period, to reach 19.7% of the total population in 2019.

Current projections point to a continued decline over the next decades, with an expected total population of 17.7 million in 2030 and 15.5 million by 2050 (Source:  Proiectarea populaiei României pe regiuni de dezvoltare i judee, la orizontul 2070).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022   Contributors: Stefania Ilinca  |  

In 2021 there are 5.4 million people living in Singapore, of whom 3.9 million are residents (comprising 3.5 million Singapore citizens and 488,700 permanent residents).

Singapore’s population is ageing rapidly, in the population aged 65 and over was 639,000 (15.9%) out of its 4 million resident population. This is expected to rise to 23.8% of the population of residents by 2030.

Sources: Department of Statistics Singapore

Last updated: November 2nd, 2021

In 2021 Slovakia had population of 5.45 million people, of whom 17.1% were aged 65 and over. While in 2011, the pre-productive age population (0-14 years) had a higher share compared with the older population (65+ years), in 2021 it is the opposite. In 2021, compared to 2011, there was a slight increase in the share of the population in the pre-productive age (0-14 years) from 15.3 % to 15.9 %, but at the same time we can observe a significant increase in the population in older ages, whose share was 12.7 % in 2011 and increased to 17.1 % in 2021. The share of the working age population (15-64 years) decreased from 72.0 % in 2011 to 67,0 % in 2021. (Source: Slovak statistical office, 2021).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022   Contributors: Miroslav Cangar  |  

In South Africa, 35% of people between the ages of 65 years and 75 years require some assistance with daily activities. For those 75 years and older, the percentage increases to 45% (source: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241513388).

Last updated: November 23rd, 2021

The population in Spain, as in the rest of Western societies, is going through a marked and continuous process of ageing of its population, due to social, health and cultural factors. According to the latest data from the INE (Institute of National Statistics. Data provisional as of July 1, 2021), Spain has a total population of 47,326,687 people, of which 9,444,037 are aged 65 or older (which represents 19.95% of the total); with 1,597,298 people aged 85 or older (3.38%). In addition, this ageing is noticeable in women, who account for 56.48% of the total number of people aged 65 or over, and 65.79% of people aged 85 or over.

In addition, and in relation to the population at risk of relying upon care from others, it is estimated that there is a total of 6,044,675 people (that is, 12.77% of the total population) who can be considered as “potentially dependent” (based on factors such as age or recognized disability).

On the other hand, there is a gradual decrease in women of childbearing age and, if current demographic trends continue, the population loss in the next decade will be concentrated in the age groups of 30-49 years, with this group decreasing by 2.8 million (Martínez-Buján, et al, 2021).

References
Martínez-Buján, R.; Jabbaz, M. and Soronellas, M. (2021) El cuidado de mayores y dependientes en España ¿En qué contexto irrumpe la covid?. In Comas-d’Argemir, D. and Bofill-Poch, S. (eds.) (2021): El cuidado importa. Impacto de género en las cuidadoras/es de mayores y dependientes en tiempos de la Covid-19, Fondo Supera COVID-19 Santander-CSIC-CRUE Universidades Españolas. www.antropologia.urv.cat/es/investigacion/proyectos/cumade/

Last updated: July 4th, 2022   Contributors: Carlos Chirinos  |  Sara Ulla Díez  |  Esther Pérez de Vargas Bonilla  |  

In 2019, the total population in Catalonia was estimated to be 7.619.494, of which 51% were women and 49% were men. Like most European regions, Catalonia has an ageing population, with 18,9% of the population aged 65 or older, and 6% of the population aged 80 or older. These figures follow an increasing tendency over the last decades and are expected to continue to do so (22,3% of the population is expected to be aged 65 or older in 2030 according to mid-range scenario projections). (Source: https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=aec&n=253&t=2010)

Last updated: February 10th, 2022   Contributors: Gemma Drou-Roget  |  

In 2019, approximately 15.9% of the population of Sri Lanka was older than 60 years of age, with 9.2% aged 60–69 years, 5.1% aged 70–79 years, and 1.6% over 80 years of age. Projections suggest that these proportions will increase, more than doubling between 2030 and 2050; 60% will be women. This also represents a significant increase in absolute numbers. The “old-age dependency ratio” is projected to rise steadily, from 20% in 2015 to 43% in 2050 (source: Country Diagnostic Study on Long-Term Care in Sri Lanka (adb.org).

Last updated: September 8th, 2021

The current population (2022) in Sweden is 10.3 million (source: World Bank). In 2019, 1% of the population were 90 years or older, 5.2% were 80 years or older, and 20% were 65 years and older (source: Statista). Like many other states globally, Sweden faces a rapidly ageing population. The share of the population aged 80 and over is projected to grow by the most (a 50% from 2018) by 2028 (source: Statistics Sweden). Life expectancy in Sweden is one of the highest in the world (source: Sweden.se).

Last updated: February 10th, 2022

The Thai population was 69,625,582 in 2019, life expectancy at birth was 73.12 years for men and 80.62 years for women in 2019. The number of older persons is expected to increase from 11.3 million (16.7% of the Thai population) in 2017 to 22.9 million (33% of the Thai population) by 2040 (source: Country Diagnostic Study on Long-Term Care in Thailand (adb.org)).

Last updated: September 8th, 2021

The current population of Turkey is 84,339,067 (World Bank). Turkey still has a relatively young population, but the fertility rate has been steadily falling, while the percentage of the population over age 65 has been rising (Statista). The increasingly ageing population is resulting in swiftly increasing health expenditure and long-term care service needs (Oglak et al., 2017). The majority of the aging population is between ages 65 and 74 (Daily Sabah).

References:

Oglak, S., Canatan, A., Tufan, I., Acar, S., & Avci, N. (2017). Long-Term Care in Turkey: Are We Ready to Meet Older People’s Care Needs?  Innovation in Aging, 1(suppl_1), 566–566. https://doi.org/10.1093/GERONI/IGX004.1991

Last updated: January 26th, 2022   Contributors: Daisy Pharoah  |  

By mid-2020 the population in England was estimated to be 56,550,000, representing 84% of the total population of the United Kingdom. The median population age in England was 40.2 years. The share of the population aged 65 years and over was 18.5% and the share aged 85 and over was 2.5% (Source: ONS).

Last updated: December 4th, 2021   Contributors: Adelina Comas-Herrera  |  

In mid-2020 the total population in Northern Ireland was 1,896,000, which represents 2.8% of the total population of the United Kingdom. The median population age was 39.2. The share of the population aged 65 and more was 16.9% and share aged 85 and over was 2.1% (Source: Population estimates for the UK).

Last updated: March 8th, 2022

In mid-2020, the total population of Scotland was 5,466,000, representing 8.1% of the total population of the United Kingdom. The media population age was 42.1 years. The share of population aged 65 or over was 19.3% and the share aged 85 or over was 2.3% (Source: ONS).

Last updated: March 10th, 2022   Contributors: Jenni Burton  |  David Bell  |  David Henderson  |  Elizabeth Lemmon  |  

The total population in the United Kingdom in mid-2020 was 67,081,000. The median population age is 40.4, with 18.6% aged 65 and over, and 2.5% 85 and over (Source: ONS: Population estimates for the UK).

 

Last updated: March 8th, 2022

In mid-2020 the total population of Wales was 3,170,000, which represents 4.7% of the total population in the United Kingdom. The median age of the population was 42.4. The share of the population aged 65 and over was 21.1% and the share aged 85 and over was 2.7 (Source: Population estimates for the UK).

Last updated: March 8th, 2022

As of 2019, approximately 16.5% of Americans were aged 65 and older, constituting more than 54 million people in a population of 320+ million (source: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/older-aging.html). Moreover, the number of people aged 65 and older is expected to double in the next 40 years (source: https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/us-population-aging).

Last updated: February 11th, 2022

Vietnam is a lower-middle income country in Southeast Asia with a population of just over 97 million people (source: World Bank). Since 1999, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over has been increasing, representing 7.9% of the total population by 2020 (source: World Bank). Meanwhile, the younger population (aged 14 and below) has been decreasing. These trends are predicted to persist (source: Vietnam Population Census); thus Vietnam is undergoing a demographic transition and is predicted to be an aging population by 2040 (source: United Nations). Vietnam is also one of the fastest aging countries globally (source: WHO). The growing elderly population in Vietnam poses a challenge to the social welfare system; the World Bank have therefore stressed the importance of developing relevant and timely health and social care solutions to ensure country capacity.

People in Vietnam are considered who are 60 years and older are considered “elderly”. The majority (more than 70%) of older people live in rural areas. There are more females than males in the aging population in Vietnam; an imbalance which is also higher in rural than urban areas. A minority (5.8%) of older people live alone (with most of these individuals being women in rural areas), and few (11.5%) live only with a spouse. Most older people in Vietnam are household heads and live with a child. As such, children and grandchildren are the main caregivers (Van Hoi et al., 2012). More recently, however, increasing employment opportunities in urban centres have resulted in temporary migration of the younger generations, leaving the more elderly members of the population on their own and with less emotional and physical support from family (Van Hoi et al., 2012).

References:

Van Hoi, L., Thi Kim Tien, N., Van Tien, N., Van Dung, D., Thi Kim Chuc, N., Goran Sahlen, K., & Lindholm, L. (2012). Willingness to use and pay for options of care for community-dwelling older people in rural Vietnam. BMC Health Services Research, 12(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-36/TABLES/7

Last updated: December 30th, 2021   Contributors: Daisy Pharoah  |  

Contributors to the LTCcovid Living International Report, so far:

Elisa Aguzzoli, Liat Ayalon, David Bell, Shuli Brammli-Greenberg, Erica Breuer, Jorge Browne Salas, Jenni Burton, William Byrd, Sara Charlesworth, Adelina Comas-Herrera, Natasha Curry, Gemma Drou, Stefanie Ettelt, Maria-Aurora Fenech, Thomas Fischer, Nerina Girasol, Chris Hatton, Kerstin Hämel, Nina Hemmings, David Henderson, Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith, Iva Holmerova, Stefania Ilinca, Hongsoo Kim, Margrieta Langins, Shoshana Lauter, Kai Leichsenring, Elizabeth Lemmon, Klara Lorenz-Dant, Lee-Fay Low, Joanna Marczak, Elisabetta Notarnicola, Cian O’Donovan, Camille Oung, Disha Patel, Martina Paulikova, Eleonora Perobelli, Daisy Pharoah, Stacey Rand, Tine Rostgaard, Olafur H. Samuelsson, Maximilien Salcher-Konrad, Benjamin Schlaepfer, Cheng Shi, Cassandra Simmons, Andrea E. Schmidt, Agnieszka Sowa-Kofta, Wendy Taylor, Thordis Hulda Tomasdottir, Sharona Tsadok-Rosenbluth, Sara Ulla Diez, Lisa van Tol, Patrick Alexander Wachholz, Jae Yoon Yi, Jessica J. Yu

This report has built on previous LTCcovid country reports and is supported by the Social Care COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery project, which is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme (NIHR202333) and by the International Long-Term Care Policy Network and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funders.