Single elderly households in Singapore need S$1,379 a month for basic needs: study

A SINGLE elderly person aged 65 and above, who lived alone in Singapore last year without a chronic illness required S$1,379 a month to meet basic needs.

Participants generated lists of items and services related to housing and utilities, things needed in a two-room HDB flat, personal care items and clothing, food, transport, leisure and cultural activities, as well as healthcare. Each item or service was included only if participants came to a consensus that it was a basic need, and could explain their reasons for its inclusion.

"This study reveals that ordinary members of society are able to come to consensus about what a basic standard of living in contemporary Singapore means. What they said about dignity, respect, social belonging and choice, as well as the items and budget they came up with, reveal norms and values held by people in our society today."

"Future research can build on this study by comparing the individual budgets for healthy persons with that of persons with particular health conditions and additional needs," they said. This raises a few policy concerns, the researchers said."Due to rapid socio-economic development, current cohorts of older people have steep educational and skill disadvantages compared to younger workers. When work incomes and wage interventions fall short, some older people either do not have the means to ever retire or will be permanently dependent on public and informal transfers.

Added associate professor Teo You Yenn from the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University , another member of the research team and author of the book:"To tackle inequality, it is critical to establish an agreed floor below which no one should fall. The MIS method can be usefully applied to generate societal consensus across a range of household types."

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