Characteristics of the Ageing Population in Dogon Dutse community of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
ABSTRACT
It is no story that the is globally ageing. The growing of ageing has posed a great challenge on families and to provide for their health and daily needs.
The study examines the characteristics of the ageing population in the Dogon Dutse community of Jos North Local Government Area, Plateau State. A random sampling technique was used to collect data from 50 respondents using questionnaires and was managed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 20.
The findings reveal that majority of the respondents were males, only 18 were females. Most of them attended informal/Qur’anic education with haven attended secondary school and fewer haven attended tertiary. It also reveals that the respondents came from different places both within and outside Jos.
It shows religious significance, income levels, type of housing and current health conditions of the respondents. The study also reveals the challenges the ageing population are facing with some having been harassed and some discriminated against for their age.
It also provides suggestions on elderly contributions and how the ageing population can be best cared for. Chi-square was used to test the significance of the study.
The study recommends good food/balanced diet, care, family support and community participation for the elderly will be a good way in looking after ageing. Places of worship, NGOs and the government should help in providing for the old.
INTRODUCTION
Worldwide, the number of persons aged 60 and over has been increasing at an unparalleled rate. In 1980, there were 378 million people aged 60 and above; 3 decades later, this figure doubled to 759 million and by 2050 is projected to rise almost threefold to 2 billion people (United Nations, 2010 and WHO, 2013).
In almost all regions of the world, the ageing population is growing faster than the total population (United Nations, 2009). In particular, the ageing population in developing countries has a higher speed of growth than in developed countries.
Compared with other regions of the world, the population of Africa is growing older faster, at a rate of 2.27% (United Nations, 2013). Although the size of the ageing population in percentage terms is expected to remain small,
the absolute number of ageing persons is expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades. According to WHO (2013) and UN (2010), the world population is rapidly ageing. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%.
The absolute number of people age 60 years and over is expected to increase from 605 million to 2 billion over the same period. Africa, like other parts of the world, is undergoing rapid demographic changes and although the population is largely youthful,
the proportion of ageing persons has increased tremendously over the past few decades. The growth of the ageing population in Africa is accompanied by an increase in the modern age of the 2 population, as well as changes in the dependency ratio, resulting in a decline in the proportion of aged 60 years and over.
The changes in the age structure of the African population is likely to have far-reaching consequences for the continent.
In Nigeria, those aged 65 years and above make up about 4.3 per cent of the total population which was put at 140,431,790 million according to 2006 population exercise. The population of elderly (aged 65+) in Nigeria is on the increase as the crude mortality rates are gradually reducing.
REFERENCES
Abrams, P.A (1995). Optimality theory, Gompertz’ law, and the disposal soma theory
of senescenece. Evolution, 49: 1055-1066.
Ahenkora A (1999). “The Contributions of Older People to Development; The Ghana
study”
Ahn, N. and Mira, P. (2002). A note on the changing relationship between fertility
and female employee rates in developed countries. Journal of population
economics.
Apt, N.A (2005) “30 years of African research on Ageing: History, Achievements
and Challenges for the future” Generations Review 15: Adsera, A
(forthcoming, 2004). Changing fertility rates in developed countries: the
impact of labour market institution, Journal of population economics.
Barrientos, A. (2000). “work, retirement and vulnerability of older persons in Latin
America: what are the lessons for pension design?”
Bell, G. (1984). Evolutionary and Non-evolutionary Theories of senescence.
Cambridge University press, Cambridge.
Bongaarts, J. (2001). Fertility and reproductive preferences in post-transitional
societies, in R. Bulatao and J. Cesterline (eds) Global fertility transition,
(supplement to population and development review), pp. 260 -81.
Charesworth, B. and Hughes, K. A. (1996). Age-specific inbreeding depression and
components of genetic variance in relation o the evolution of senescenee, Proc
natl Acad Sci USA, 93: 641-6145. /Article/ pubmed/chemport/
Cohen GD. Health care at an advanced aage. Myths and misconceptions. Annals of
internal medicine, 1994, 121:146-147.
Colin G, Turner J, Bailey C, latulippe D. (2000). Social security pensions:
development and reform. Geneva: International Labour Office.
Cox, William T.L.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Devine, Patricia G.; Hollon, Steven D.
(2012). “Stereotypes, prejudice, and Depression: the integrated perspective”.
Perspectives on psychological science.
StudentsandScholarship Team.