Tuesday, August 21, 2007

More single elderly on the rise--will U and Me be one of them in 2040??

Did you watch the National Day Rally on tv? (or perhaps you were among those in the live audience .. who stayed awake I hope ) I watched snippets of it here and there. Thanks to PM Lee, I now know that Radin Mas has a large elderly population-- every 1 in 6 persons is older than 65 yrs old age.

With more and more people staying single, and more couples having lesser babies (some not even having any kids due to various reasons) , it seems that the demographic between the old and young will just worsen in the years to come. Can the young cope with the large amount of oldies? Will there be enough help to go around for the old folks at the year 2040? I don't think it's too premature to think about that, since there is a 50-60% probability that I may be single and/or childless.

Back to reality, let's talk about my housing estate * I am in the Jalan bersar GRC*
You can say that my estate is also an aging one. Though lately I can see more young adults and couples moving back here to be closer to their families and also because my area is still pretty near town. It is quite nice to know that the old folks in my neighborhood are well taken care of. Oh, I am referring to the old folks residing at the two blocks of 1 room flat in the area. There are religious and voluntary groups assign to assist them in nearly all aspect of their lives and living environment.

There is a TOUCH Seniors Activity Centre located at one of the void decks. It serves as a meeting place for the old folks. My mum would bring my grandma there everyday to join in the activities and sometimes part take their breakfast and tea break there with their friends :) After all there isn't much my grandma can do at home these days and her being able to be with counterparts her age is a good way to spend time. Looks like more and more elderly in the future would have to "depend" on such goodwill provided by various groups for assistance.

So now what must we do? Earn more money, be more self reliant and make sure you have enough friends to see you through the golden years!

4 comments:

Sheldon Wee said...

I'll be one of them at 2040. Lets see, I'll be 53. Not old enough to withdraw cpf yet though :(

Anonymous said...

CPF !!!! i wanna get out of singapore whenever possible....cannot stay here any longer.... sure die young.... dont talk about CPF.... work till u die also cannot get....

regards
ahwang rapes rachel

Eileen. 静 said...

guys guys..hahah.. i didn't even mention about cpf! hahaah...

mr.sc--55 is still okay..still can work mah..unless ur planning for early retirement

mr chongwee aka ahwang--and where u wanna migrate to?

Sheldon Wee said...

maybe I am, but given that I need human interaction daily, I'll prolly work for as long as I can go :D