Old folks in S'pore an asset to their families

Study finds they give more help than they receive from their families, compared with the elderly elsewhere in Asia

By Carolyn Quek

COMPARED with old folk in other Asian states, the elderly in Singapore are contributing both practically and financially to their families, according to a 2008 global ageing study by Oxford University.

Unfortunately, they also get less support of the same kind from their children and grandchildren.

Said British gerontologist Sarah Harper, one of the researchers behind the study: 'We have this idea that older people are a burden on our society but that's because we tend to look at it through our tax system, that they are not in work.'

This is far from the truth, because the study showed that older people still made significant contributions towards their loved ones at home, she said yesterday, in presenting the study at a conference by the International Consortium for Intergenerational Programmes.

Around 1,000 seniors each from various places worldwide were asked if they had given financial and practical support to their family members over a six-month period.

The study also asked respondents - aged above 55 - if their children or grandchildren had done the same for them.

The results showed that older folks in Singapore were giving more help to their children and grandchildren than the other way around.

Twelve per cent of Singaporean respondents said they offered support such as shopping for groceries, or helping their children clean the house.

On the other hand, just 9 per cent of them said their family members had either shopped or cleaned house for them.

In Asia, the Philippines had the most seniors who gave practical help, with 40 per cent, and China the lowest, with 3 per cent of grandparents saying they helped out.

Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Malaysia and South Korea were included in the study as well.

Singapore was also one of three Asian countries where the elderly respondents offered more practical support to their children and grandchildren than otherwise. The other two were the Philippines and South Korea.

In terms of financial help, the younger generation in Singapore ranked third worst when it came to giving money to their parents, with only 18 per cent of respondents saying their children had given them money.

South Korea ranked the best, with 67 per cent of seniors saying they received money from their children, followed by Malaysia with 56 per cent; the Philippines with 40 per cent; India with 35 per cent and Hong Kong with 29 per cent.

In South Korea and the Philippines, the older generation gave the children as much financial support as they received from them.

Some 6 per cent of Singapore seniors also said they contributed financially to their children and grandchildren.

Professor Harper said yesterday on the sidelines of the four-day conference which ended yesterday: 'When we look at what's happening in families, we see that older people are making a large contribution.

'They are giving money to their children and grandchildren, they are providing care and they are also providing practical support.'

In his closing remarks at the conference, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Boon Heng said that he hoped to see more creative programmes encouraging intergenerational bonding being developed.

'As these seniors renegotiate the terms of their old age, so must other generations renegotiate their relationships with them,' the minister, who is in charge of ageing issues, added.

Click here for the article in the ST on Apr 30 2010