Macro-Demographics and Ageing in Emerging Asia: the Case of Indonesia.

In common with a number of other emerging economies in South East Asia, Indonesia is confronting rapid demographic transition at a low level of per capita income. The fourth largest country in the world by population size, Indonesia will face new challenges for fiscal sustainability and policy design, as in coming decades its labour force begins to shrink, and the older population becomes relatively more numerous. In this paper, we demonstrate how strong data sources, from international agencies, national sources, and surveys of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) family, are available and can be combined to generate a statistical profile of an emerging economy. Such profiles have value in themselves but can also be used as the basis for specifying macroeconomic models of demographic transition, of the overlapping generations (OLG) type, and for various other purposes. The profile presented here will serve to inform both policymakers and the broader community of the long-run trends which will inexorably impact Indonesian society in coming decades. It indicates that major social protection policy development will be needed over the next period to avert widespread hardship, especially among older cohorts.

Intergenerational Programmes bringing together community dwelling non-familial older adults and children: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Social isolation is associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes, including functional decline, cognitive decline, and dementia. Intergenerational engagement, i.e. structured or semi structured interactions between non-familial older adults and younger generations is emerging as a tool to reduce social isolation in older adults and to benefit children and adults alike. This has great potential for our communities, however, the strength and breadth of the evidence for this is unclear. We undertook a systematic review to summarise the existing evidence for intergenerational interventions with community dwelling non-familial older adults and children, to identify the gaps and to make recommendations for the next steps. METHODS: Medline, Embase and PsychInfo were searched from inception to the 28th Sept 2020. Articles were included if they reported research studies evaluating the use of non-familial intergenerational interaction in community dwelling older adults. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020175927 RESULTS: Twenty articles reporting on 16 studies were included. Although all studies reported positive effects in general, numerical outcomes were not recorded in some cases, and outcomes and assessment tools varied and were administered un-blinded. Caution is needed when making interpretations about the efficacy of intergenerational programmes for improving social, health and cognitive outcomes. DISCUSSION: Overall, there is neither strong evidence for nor against community based intergenerational interventions. The increase in popularity of intergenerational programmes alongside the strong perception of potential benefit underscores the urgent need for evidence-based research.