The tragic death of an apparently uncared-for elderly citizen recently has taken Bangladeshi social media by storm.
The body of the septuagenarian woman was recovered from a city apartment building, where she had lain dead and unnoticed for several days. No one in her immediate neighborhood had any clue about her passing.
Heavily disturbed by this development, netizens took to social media to express deep anguish over the perceived carelessness of the deceased's immediate family, calling for self-reflection by all adult children who care for elderly guardians at home.
It is entirely understandable that sons and daughters across our society are now thinking about their elderly parents, as well as their own future fate.
However, this tragedy also offers an opportunity to look beyond familial responsibilities.
We must reflect on what Bangladesh is doing as a state and a nation to prepare for its aging population and geriatric needs.
This is an area we seldom find time to discuss, contemplate, or plan for, yet it is crucial. The related data is truly mind-boggling.
In this country, public discourse often centres on the "demographic dividend" and our abundant youth population. However, we seem largely unaware that this dividend stream will soon dry up, leaving us to face the challenge of a fast-growing elderly population.
Bangladesh is undergoing a rapid demographic transition. It will officially become an "aging society" by the end of this decade, with a tenth of its population crossing the 60-year age threshold.
While Bangladesh currently enjoys a relatively young population with a median age of 26.3 years, dropping fertility rates and rising life expectancies mean the window to capitalize on this youth is closing faster than traditional care systems can adapt.
According to Worldometer, an independent reference website that keeps track of demographic data, our median age increased from 16.8 years to 26.3 years over the past five decades. By 2050, it is projected to cross 35 years.
Driven by breakthroughs in primary healthcare, infant survival, and poverty reduction, average life expectancy at birth has risen to around 75 years.
Concurrently, Bangladesh has achieved one of the most remarkable fertility declines in the developing world. The rate has dropped from over 6.5 births per woman in the 1970s to just 2 today, which falls slightly below the global replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1.
Bangladesh is fast approaching the end of its "demographic dividend" period -- an economic window where the working-age population significantly outnumbers dependents.
However, the proportion of working-age adults is already beginning to decline, and this window is projected to close permanently between 2035 and 2040.
If Bangladesh does not rapidly generate high-value employment and economic wealth before 2040, it risks growing old before it gets rich.
Some projections indicate that the elderly population will surpass the youth cohort by 2046. The number of older citizens is expected to swell to between 36 and 40 million people.
This means that by the mid-21st century, 20% of Bangladeshis will be senior citizens.
At a global symposium on aging held late last year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called on governments worldwide to urgently rethink how aging is defined and understood.
The agency warned that outdated assumptions about older populations risk undermining both economic resilience and human rights in a rapidly changing demographic landscape.
Officials at the Seoul symposium cautioned that global fertility continues to decline across all regions. As a result, all countries, regardless of income level, are shifting toward older populations.
In line with our Eastern traditions, we typically expect families to bear full responsibility for their elders. Culturally and historically, senior care in our country has been an unwritten social contract fulfilled via unpaid care by family members -- usually women -- within joint or extended households.
However, a shift toward nuclear families, rapid urbanization, migration to major cities, and socioeconomic transformations in rural livelihoods are destroying this informal care network, leaving elderly citizens increasingly isolated.
There is also a stark gender dimension to this issue. Women bear a heavier burden of unpaid care, encounter wider gaps in income and pensions, and are more likely to spend extended periods living with illness or disability.
Despite their substantial contributions to families, communities, and economies, older individuals of all genders remain too often excluded or stigmatized.
Therefore, society, the state, and the government must step up in a bigger way to care for our elderly population. We cannot leave this responsibility solely to families.
While the government’s old-age allowance is a vital social safety net window, its reach and amount must be multiplied.
Furthermore, although the government recently initiated the Universal Pension Scheme, the overwhelming majority of today's aging population still lacks formal income security or a retirement safety net.
A massive gap also remains in geriatric healthcare and professional services by trained caregivers. Dedicated old-age care homes are few and far between. Bangladesh’s health budget remains one of the lowest in the region, forcing citizens to pay for health costs largely out-of-pocket.
There is currently no formal state arrangement for specialized health and medicine services targeting senior citizens. Older individuals require complex management for non-communicable illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and dementia -- needs that the country's public primary care infrastructure is currently unequipped to support.
Given the imminent growth of Bangladesh's elderly population, state planning over the coming years must focus on developing a formal, long-term care infrastructure and fostering a professional caregiving industry. The state also needs to redesign public transport, urban housing, and hospital networks to cater to the needs of the elderly.
Finally, innovative financial savings models must be evolved to support senior citizens, many of whom face dwindling earnings alongside high costs for medicines, transportation, and specialized care.
Reaz Ahmad is Editor, Dhaka Tribune.