Population aged 80 years or more is referred to as the
“oldest old”. Increasing survival rate to age 80 years means
that among the older persons, more and more will live up
to 80 years. Currently, this is 36 per cent and will increase
to 56 per cent by 2050. Similarly, life expectancy at age 80
years (that is the number of years an oldest old person can
on average be expected to live beyond 80 years) is projected
to increase. With an increasing proportion of Thais
expected to reach age 80 years and on average live for
more years beyond that, the proportion of the oldest old
in the population is expected to register exponential growth.
The population of the oldest old, currently estimated at
590 thousand, will increase to 1.3 million in 2025 and
exceed 3.5 million by 2050. This means extended duration
of social security and welfare payments and increasing need
for care of old age morbidity and disability.