Patterns of aging in Thailand and Côte d'Ivoire

Description

This paper is broadly concerned with the living standards of older people in two contrasting developing countries, Cote d' Ivoire and Thailand. A series of household surveys from these two countries is used to present evidence on factors affecting the living standards of the elderly: living arrangements, labor force participation, illness, urbanization, income and consumption. One of the issues the authors examine is whether life-cycle patterns of income and consumption can be detected in the data. The fact that few of the elderly live alone makes it difficult to accurately measure the welfare of the elderly, or to make statements about the life-cycle patterns of income and consumption of individuals. They find that labor force participation and individual income patterns follow the standard life-cycle hump shape in both countries, but that average living standards within households are quite flat over the life-cycle. The data presented suggest that changes in family composition and living arrangements of elderly are likely to be more important sources of old-age insurance than asset accumulation.

Subjects

Series Statement

• LSMS working paper,
• no. 81