Introduction

Malaysia's population is not currently particularly elderly, although this will change over the next two decades or so. The 2000 Census showed that 6.2 per cent, 1.452 million people, were aged 60 or over, but demographic ageing is occurring and, by the year 2020, 9.5 per cent of the country's population will be aged 60 years and over. In accordance with the United Nations World Assembly on Ageing held in Vienna in 1982, at which the age of 60 years and over was adopted for deliberating issues on ageing, Malaysia has also adopted this demarcation in formulating and implementing plans for its senior citizens. However, the present retirement age of 56 seems to suggest that the threshold for ageing locally is felt to begin at 56 years of age.

Malaysia has been experiencing improved health, longer life expectancy, low mortality as well as declining fertility. The combination of all of these has brought about a change in the demographic profile of the country's population. The age structure for the past four censuses (in 1970, 1980, 1991 and 2000) shows that the proportion of younger age groups (15 years and below) is decreasing, while the proportion of elderly is on the rise. The median age was 17.4 in 1970, 21.9 in 1991, 23.6 in 2000 and is projected to increase to 27.1 in the year 2020. Within a period of thirty years (from 1991 to 2020), the median age will have increased on average by 1.7 per decade. The old-age dependency ratio is expected to increase to 15.7 in 2020 from 10.5 in 1970. This is high compared to other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia (10.1), Thailand (13.4), and the Philippines (9.0), although Singapore has a dependency rate of 23.9 (and Japan's ratio of 41.5). Over a period of 50 years, the median age of the Malaysian population will increase by 10, and the old-age dependency ratio by 5 (Department of Statistics, Malaysia 1998). By the year 2020, Malaysia will be a mature society with 9.5 per cent of its population aged 60 and above.