Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Senior citizens wait patiently to collect their monthly old age allowance in the northern part of Bangladesh recently.
The country had decided to take care of its aging population by introducing the Old Age Allowance Program in 1998. Initially, the program kicked off by providing five men – aged 65 and above – and five women – aged 62 and above – in each union parishad with Tk100 from a fund of Tk125 crore, according to Department of Social Services.
In the fiscal year (FY) 2009-2010, around 2.25 million got Tk300 per month from a fund of Tk810 crore. Currently in the FY 2019-2020, around 4.4 million elderly are receiving Tk500 per month from a fund of Tk2,640 crore set aside for this purpose only.
As the aging population doubled in a decade and increasing, are we efficient in taking care of our older generation?
