Depression and Loneliness among the Elderly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Erin Grela, Madeline McKelway, Frank Schilbach, Garima Sharma and Girija Vaidyanathan

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2023, vol. 37, issue 2, 179-202

Abstract: We combine data from longitudinal surveys in seven low- and middle-income countries (plus the United States for comparison) to document that depressive symptoms among those aged 55 and above are prevalent in those countries and, unlike in the United States, increase sharply with age. Depressive symptoms in one survey wave are associated with a greater decline in ability to carry out basic daily activities and a higher probability of death in the next wave. Using additional data from a panel survey we conducted in Tamil Nadu with a focus on elderly living alone, we document that social isolation, poverty, and physical health challenges are strongly correlated with depression. We discuss potential policy interventions in these three domains, including some results from our randomized control trials in the Tamil Nadu sample.

JEL-codes: I12 I18 J14 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.37.2.179 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E185121V2 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.37.2.179.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.37.2.179.ds (application/zip)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:jecper:v:37:y:2023:i:2:p:179-202

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/jep.37.2.179

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Perspectives is currently edited by Enrico Moretti

More articles in Journal of Economic Perspectives from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().