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Economic Disadvantage Among Older People in Rural Indonesia: Risk and Protective Factors

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Abstract

Little research attention has been given to investigative inequalities in the economic wellbeing of older persons in rural Indonesia. This paper aims to investigate factors contributing to the level of the economic disadvantage of older persons and the influence of financial support from adult children in relieving old-age poverty. Data are drawn from the 2016 Ageing in Rural Indonesian Study (ARIS). The sample size was 1,629 respondents collected from six villages across Indonesia. Using a multidimensional economic disadvantage measure, we found that 12% of older persons in the study sites have economic disadvantage. Risk factors of economic disadvantage include being female, having non-migrant children only, no children, and having a disability. Protective factors against possible economic disadvantage include having a pension, a higher education level, and remaining economically active. Children’s financial support are very limited in preventing poverty and as a main source of income in old age. Therefore, there is a need not to rely on children’s financial support for older persons but to develop and provide a more sustainable support system.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge and thank to Professor Peter McDonald and Dr Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo who lead the project of “the 2016 Ageing in Rural Indonesian Survey (ARIS)” used in this paper. This paper is part of my PhD thesis funded by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) of the Republic of Indonesia through 5000 Doctorate Scholarship Program (Program Beasiswa 5000 Doktor). Lastly, this work was also supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (project number CE170100005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Faculty of Dakwah and Communication, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    Muh. Ulil Absor

  2. School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Peter McDonald

  3. Ariane Utomo, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Ariane Utomo

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  1. Muh. Ulil Absor
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  2. Peter McDonald
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Correspondence to Muh. Ulil Absor.

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Ethical Statement

The compliance of this paper with ethical standards was approved by Human Research Ethics Committee the Australian National University (HREC ANU) number 2015/481 and 2016/280. This research has also obtained ethical approval from Indonesian Government at both national and local levels. This research involved human participation. However, the authors confirm that this research has obtained informed consent from all respondents and key informants. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. This paper also has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This manuscript will not be submitted elsewhere until the editorial process is completed.

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Absor, M.U., McDonald, P. & Utomo, A. Economic Disadvantage Among Older People in Rural Indonesia: Risk and Protective Factors. Population Ageing 16, 919–937 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-022-09406-1

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