The Pattern of the Distribution of Aged Population in Rural Karnataka : A Spatial Analysis

According to 2001 census the total aged population of Karnataka was 40, 62,022, which is 7.7 per cent of the total population. Of them 28,89,594 (71 per cent) were in rural areas and the remaining 11, 72,428 (29 per cent) in urban areas. This indicates that majority of the aged population are concentrated in rural areas of the State. Hence it is appropriate to analyse the spatial pattern of the distribution of aged population in Karnataka and essential to study the regional variation in the distribution of rural aged population in the State; which might give a suggestion to the planners to provide good and necessary policies and programmes. The present paper covers the whole State and analysis is made at district and village levels. The data are analysed at different levels based on the secondary data collected from census and at village level based on the primary data collected by field investigation carried out at the micro level for which 13 sample villages were selected. The sample consisted of 1201 elderly people, among them 592 were males and 609 females. From both the district and village level analysis it was found that Tumkur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Davangere have more than 6.5 per cent of the elder population.