Socio-economic Condition, Health and Family Relations of the Retired Government Employees in Bangladesh: The Case of Dhaka City

Abstract

Retirement is the final stage of a service holder. According to the theories of the gerontology, retired persons face various socio-economic problems which may affect them mentally and physically. With development of science, health care facilities, discovery of life saving drugs, technological improvement and above all increase in life expectancy, the number of elderly people is increasing in Bangladesh, like other countries of the world. The numbers of retired persons are also increasing proportionately day by day. The retired persons are the most sensitive segment of our total population. They are creating two dimensional problems. Firstly, they are problem for themselves then they are problem for their family and society. Retirement ages are not gender sensitive in Bangladesh. The major purpose of the study was to analyze the socio-economic condition, health and family relations of the retired government employees in Bangladesh. The key research question which the study explored to answer was: What are the socio-economic condition, health and family relations of the retired government employees in Bangladesh? The study has been conducted in Dhaka and it focused on the retired government employees living in Dhaka City. Socioeconomic and health data about the retired government employees have been gathered through a questionnaire survey. In this study 402 retired government employees have been selected on the basis of information about retirement and related matters. Retirement introduces a set of new problems in the life of a retired person that s/he has never faced earlier. After retirement a retired person’s position and role changes not only in the family but also in the community and society. Social, economic and demographic developments have all caused changes at the individual, family and social levels, all of which influence the lives of retired government employees in Bangladesh. The main sources of income of the retired government employees are mainly from house rent, remittance, interest from savings certificate, business and service, respectively. In some cases, their adult sons and daughters contribute economically in the family. The main items of expenditure are food and residence, Medicare/treatment, transportation and others. About 75% of retired government employees do not surrender the whole pension. They are economically self-sufficient compared to retired government employees who surrendered pension fully. Due to lack of opportunity, in old age and other health problems, they cannot engage themselves in income generating activities. About 32% of them are engaged in some income generating activities. Moreover, class-I employees are more engaged in income generating activities than other classes of employees. Majority of the retired government employees are engaged in business followed by service and teaching. It is interesting to note that more than 67% of the retired government employees live in their own houses and others live with sons, daughters or other houses. The study found that the staff level retired government employees’ average monthly incomes were less than average monthly incomes of officer level retired government employees in Bangladesh. Some of the retired government employees are engaged in part-time jobs and some are engaged in other jobs. In Bangladesh, very few female retired government employees are engaged in any home management activity but this does not mean that they do not work. Their work may not be considered as economic activities since they mostly engage themselves in household works. It is mentionable that incomes of retired government employees usually decrease after their retirement, which also reduces their social status and power. It was observed that a considerable amount of money was spent for the households by the retired government employees in each month. They do not want to be dependent on their relatives for economic help. But overall, they were mentally very strong and they showed positive attitude toward the life. In this study, it has been observed that the retired government employees have been suffering from many chronic ailments and acute diseases. Of various diseases from which the retired government employees were suffering from, three major diseases such as diabetes (59.1%), decay of bones (33.5%) and ulcer (31.1%) were noticeable. Other common diseases were pneumonia, high blood pressure, kidney disease, eye disease, etc. It is interesting to note that the ailing retired government employees generally depend on private health care facilities for their treatment.