Health · Sub-pillar 2.5

Healthy ageing

Health, mobility and dignity in later years as India's population grows older, including care and dignity at the end of life.

What is healthy ageing?

Healthy ageing is sub-pillar 2.5 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the last of five sub-pillars under the Health pillar. It asks whether Indians can stay healthy, mobile and independent in their later years as the population grows older, and whether they are cared for with dignity at the end of life.

Why it matters for 2047

India is young today and will be much older by 2047. The share of people over sixty is already close to one in ten and is projected to approach one in seven by 2036 and one in five by mid-century. The people who will be old in 2047 are in their thirties and forties now; how they age is being decided today.

Ageing well is not the same as living long. The question is how many of the extra years are spent healthy, mobile and independent, and how many with chronic illness, disability, loneliness or dependence. Chronic diseases that begin in middle age, from diabetes to hypertension, decide much of the answer.

The end of life is part of health too. Most Indians who need palliative care, relief from pain and suffering in serious or terminal illness, never receive it. A developed Bharat is one where people can grow old without fear and die without needless pain.

Where India stands

  • 9.7%

    of India's population was aged 60 or over in 2024, according to the Sample Registration System, from 15.1% in Kerala to 7.6% in Assam. Women (10.1%) outnumber men (9.3%) among the old.[1]

  • 23 crore

    Indians, about 15% of the population, are projected to be 60 or over by 2036, up from about 10 crore in 2011, according to the official population projections; the elderly population is expected to reach 31.9 crore by 2050.[2]

  • 40%

    of India's elderly have a disability and 20% have a mental health concern, according to the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1, the country's first large survey of ageing, released in 2021.[3]

  • <4%

    of the 70 lakh to 1 crore Indians who need palliative care each year receive it; India had about 526 listed palliative care centres in 2022, roughly four per crore people.[4]

India is ageing faster than it is preparing. One person in ten is already over sixty, and the oldest states, Kerala among them, have already reached the age structure the whole country will have in a decade. [1][2] Among the elderly, 58% are women and more than half of elderly women are widows, which makes old age a women's question as much as a health one. [2]

Health in old age is uneven. The LASI survey found that about one in two elderly people lives with a chronic disease, 40% have a disability and one in five has a mental health concern. [3] Care has started to follow: the national programme for elderly health care covers all 713 health districts with geriatric wards, and the national hospital insurance scheme was extended in October 2024 to everyone aged 70 and over, with 94.19 lakh senior citizens enrolled by late 2025. [2][5]

Palliative care is the clearest gap. Fewer than four in a hundred people who need relief from serious illness receive it, and services are concentrated in a few states, Kerala above all. [4] A note on the numbers: the LASI figures are from fieldwork in 2017-18 and the next wave is awaited; the palliative care estimate comes from a peer-reviewed study rather than an official count.

On the 47 BH report card

Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:

  • Healthy life expectancy at 60, and life expectancy at 60 (Sample Registration System life tables; WHO).
  • Share of people over 60 with a disability or functional limitation (Longitudinal Ageing Study in India).
  • Share of people needing palliative care who receive it, and number of palliative care services (peer-reviewed estimates; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare).

Two lenses on healthy ageing

City and village

47 BH asks whether an old person in a village, whose children have moved to the city, can reach a doctor and manage daily life, and whether an old person in a city can afford care and avoid isolation in a flat. The share of the elderly is slightly higher in urban India (10.1%) than rural (9.4%), but the thinnest health services are in villages. [1]

Learn, avoid, protect

Learn
What can India learn from countries that kept older people active and independent through community care, home-based services and age-friendly towns, and from Kerala's community palliative care movement?
Avoid
Which mistakes should it avoid, such as treating old age as a hospital problem, building old-age homes as the default answer, or ignoring the pensions and savings on which health in old age depends?
Protect
What of its own should it protect, such as the joint family and the respect for elders that still keep most old people at home, the daily routines of walking, yoga and worship, and the volunteers who run palliative care in Kerala and beyond?

What this sub-pillar does not cover

Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:

Questions about healthy ageing

How many elderly people are there in India?

9.7% of India's population was aged 60 or over in 2024, according to the Sample Registration System bulletin for 2024. Official projections put the elderly population at about 23 crore, around 15% of the population, by 2036 and 31.9 crore by 2050. [1][2]

Are India's elderly healthy?

The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (Wave 1, released in 2021) found that about one in two elderly people has a chronic disease, 40% have a disability and 20% have a mental health concern. [3]

What is palliative care, and do Indians get it?

Palliative care relieves pain and suffering in serious or terminal illness. A 2025 study in ecancermedicalscience estimated that fewer than 4% of the 70 lakh to 1 crore Indians who need it each year receive it, with about 526 listed palliative care centres in 2022. [4]

Do people over 70 in India have health insurance?

Since October 2024 the national hospital insurance scheme has covered everyone aged 70 and over regardless of income, with cover of up to Rs 5 lakh a year per family. 94.19 lakh senior citizens had enrolled by late 2025, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. [5]

Why is ageing a question for a young country?

Because the people who will be old in 2047 are adults now, and because India's older states have already reached the age structure the whole country will have within a decade or two. The habits, health systems and pensions built today decide how India ages.

Sources

  1. Office of the Registrar General of India, "Sample Registration System Bulletin 2024", Volume 59-I, released May 2026. Share of population aged 60 and over: 9.7% (urban 10.1%, rural 9.4%; female 10.1%, male 9.3%; Kerala 15.1%, Assam 7.6%). https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/47150
  2. Press Information Bureau, "Elderly in India: Population, Challenges, and Government Initiatives", backgrounder, 28 October 2025, citing the Technical Group on Population Projections (July 2020) and LASI 2021. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2025/oct/doc20251028678601.pdf
  3. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "Dr. Harsh Vardhan releases Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI) Wave-1, India Report", Press Information Bureau, 6 January 2021. Fieldwork 2017-18. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1686552
  4. Sharma P, Thakkar H, Patil A et al., "Access to palliative care in India: situational analysis and modeling of access from public healthcare centers", ecancermedicalscience, vol. 19, article 2038, 19 November 2025. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12904676/
  5. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, "Initiatives and Achievements 2025", year-end review, Press Information Bureau, January 2026. Ayushman Vay Vandana enrolments 94,19,515. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/jan/doc202611749801.pdf

47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.

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