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Old Age Security and Inheritance in Nepal: Motives Versus Means

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Bhanu B. Niraula
Bhanu B. Niraula
Affiliation:
Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
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Summary

This paper documents expectations of old age support in rural Nepal. Current living arrangements of the elderly have been analysed with a focus on the ownership of land holdings. It is argued that the inter-generational transfer of property through inheritance from the older to the younger generation, especially among sons, together with the Nepali normative prescription that sons care for their aged parents, provides a mechanism for old age support. However, land is becoming a scarce resource, cultural traditions are breaking down through modernisation and the living conditions of the elderly are likely to deteriorate as this process continues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 71 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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