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Ministry wants to change old age cutoff from 60 to 65
According to a 2000 census, senior citizens made up of 7.18 percent of the population. The figure increased to 8.5 percent in 2005, then to 9.87 percent in 2010 and 9.29 percent in 2018, or equal to 24.4 million people.
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Two people perform a traditional dance to commemorate National Senior Citizens Day in Denpasar, Bali. The national day is commemorated every May 29. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
W
ith Indonesia’s average life expectancy increasing to 71 years, the Social Affairs Ministry plans to revise up the legal age criteria for someone to be officially declared a senior citizen from 60 years to 65.
Social Affair Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita was quick to clarify that the move was not based on the government’s limited budget for providing basic services to the elderly.
The latest Health Ministry data showed that the average life expectancy for Indonesian women is 74 years and 69 years for men.
Law No. 13/1998 on senior citizens stipulates that a senior citizen is any person aged 60 and older.
The United Nations carries the same definition, while some developed nations use 65 and above.
“The ages of 60 and 65 are often used, despite their arbitrary nature, for which the origins and surrounding debates can be followed from the end of the 1800s through the mid-1900s,” reads a 2002 paper on the UN’s website.
Agus said that during National Senior Citizen Day in Bandung, West Java, many 60-year-olds were visibly productive.
