Living in Poverty: Past, Present, and Future of Older Adults

The global phenomenon of an aging population represents a profound shift in demographic structures, with far-reaching implications for societies, economies, and healthcare systems worldwide. One alarming concern is that currently, two-thirds of the world’s older population reside in developing countries, and it is expected that by 2050, 80 percent of older adults will be living in low- and middle-income countries (WHO, 2022). In India, today’s older adults belong to cohorts born in the 1950s and 1960s or earlier. During this period, a large section of the population experienced poverty. To explore and understand the lived experiences of older adults, this study used the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM). The BNIM provides a framework to understand three interrelated facets of an individual’s life: "the person’s whole life history or life story (biography), how he or she tells it (narrative), and the social interpretation (interpretive)” (Corbally & O’Neill, 2015).

Through fieldwork in both urban and rural settings, life course narratives were collected from 40 participants. Drawing from social exclusion theory and an intersectionality approach, this paper examines how the socio-economic realities of older adults shape their life course experiences. The study finds that experiences of poverty across the life course are multilayered and volatile. The older adults in the study area experienced changes in their life course trajectories due to natural calamities like floods. Floods during their childhood and later years significantly shaped their experiences of poverty in later life. These floods not only caused economic loss and temporary displacement but also led to a loss of aspirations and hope among the older adults. Policy interventions should not only be designed based on current experiences but must also take into account past experiences and the persistent nature of poverty.