Introduction

Sri Lanka is among the societies which are ageing the fastest in the developing world. During the intercensal period, 1981–2001, the proportion of the population in the age group over 60 years has increased from 6.6 per cent to 9.2 per cent. According to the available standard projection, the elderly will account for approximately 20 per cent of the total population in 2026. This process of ageing, which is being witnessed in Sri Lanka is the outcome of policies and programmes which rapidly reduced mortality over a period of 50 years and increased the average lifespan from 46 years in 1946 to 74 years in 2001. Fertility reached the replacement level in the mid 1990s and has continued to decline further below this level, resulting in a corresponding decline in the share of the population under 15 years of age from 35 per cent in 1981 to 26 per cent in 2001.

Sri Lanka has undergone the demographic transition at a relatively early stage of economic development and at a low level of per capita income. The rapid changes that have taken place are imposing severe constraints on the capacity of the country's economy as well as its social institutions to provide the standards of economic and social security that should accompany the demographic changes and the process of ageing. While these problems affect the ageing population as a whole they become more acute in the case of elderly females.