“The number of older adults in Indonesia has kept increasing. In 2020, the percentage of older adults reached 9.92, increasing from 9.60 percent in 2019, or a rise of some 1.2 million in a year,” Deputy for Family Welfare and Family Empowerment at the BKKBN Nopian Andusti noted during a webinar titled "Digital Equity for All Ages" monitored here, Thursday.
According to Andusti, currently, Indonesia has some 16.82 million older adults, of which 52.29 percent are females, while 47.71 percent are males.
"This shows that the life expectancy of women is higher than that of men," he noted.
Andusti remarked that as many as 64.29 percent of the older adults in Indonesia fell in the age bracket of 60 to 69 years, while 27.23 percent were aged between 70 and 79 years, and 8.49 percent are over 80 years of age.
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He added that as many as 52.95 percent of the older adult population lived in urban areas, while 47.05 percent resided in rural areas.
According to Andusti, a rise in the number of older adults should be supported by efforts to increase the resilience and independence of older adults.
"Resilient older adults are those who can adapt to the aging process positively, so that they can lead a good-quality life during old age in a comfortable environment," he affirmed.
Hence, the BKKBN is implementing the Elderly Family Development (BKL) Program in a bid to increase the resilience, welfare, and independence of senior citizens.
Elderly Family Development encompasses efforts to increase family knowledge and skills in nurturing and caring for older adults, physical and psychological development of the older adults, and empowering the elderly. Currently, 44,483 BKL groups are spread across 34 provinces.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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