THE FORTUNE AT THE TOP OF THE AGE PYRAMID

The number of Indians aged 60+ is growing fast. With such a large cohort, it is time policymakers and marketers took note of the silver lining in an ageing India

- Harish Bijoor

THE writing is on the wall: India is ageing rapidly. The hitherto 'youngest nation of the world' will become a nation of older people sooner rather than later. Better healthcare, preemptive management of health and the proactive wellness movement all around us will spur this trend further into becoming a nation of older people.

Data out in public domain claims we were a nation of 149 million people above the age of 60 on July 1, 2022, which means 10.5 percent of our population was in this age group. Two years have passed since, and this number must have grown. The prognosis for the years ahead seem robustly tilted to the 60+ segment. A United Nations estimate says India will host 227 million 15 percent of its populationof the 60+ by 2036. This balloons to 347 million by 2050. By the end of the century, India is set to be a nation that has 36 percent of its population as those above 60. Sixty is therefore a number to behold and cherish, a number to focus our future efforts on.

The population of 60+ Indians beats the population of all of Russia today. That's quite large. In terms of sheer numbers, when you manage a population as large as that, it is time for everyone to wake up and take note of grey-haired folks in our midst. This holds good for governments, policymakers, the private sector, and, importantly, marketers who cater to the needs and wants of this segment. Not very strangely, each of these disparate segments that manage our politics, the economy, our culture and literally every dynamic of living society tend to get very biased against the 60+.