POPULATION AGEING AND FEMALE MIGRATION IN LAOS · Background •Laos has the youngest population in GMS countries; elderly represent only 6.5% of the population •Laos become a signatory

POPULATION AGEING AND FEMALE MIGRATION IN LAOS

Bouadam SENGKHAMKHOUTLAVONG

Director

Asia Research Center

Tel: +856 20 22 43 02 46

Email: [email protected]

Presentation outline

• Background

• Statistic on ageing

• Statistics on female migration

• Challenges

• Preliminary research question

Ageing in Laos 2

5 December 2018 Ageing in Laos 3

Socioeconomic indicators• Land areas: 236,800 sq. km• Forest cover: 41%• Population: 6.8 million • Population growth rate: 1.4%• Population density: 29/sq. km• Economic growth rate: 7%• Per capita income: $2,270• Poverty rate: 23%• Human Dev. Index: 0.586• Key economic activities:

agriculture, mining, hydropower, tourism etc.

Population characteristics


Source: Adapted from Results of Population and Housing Census, 2015

1985 2005 2015

Population size (1,000s)

Total 4,575 5,621 6,492

Females 2,314 2,821 3,237 Males 2,261 2,800 3,255

Sex ratio, males per 100 females 98 99 101

Life expectancy at birth

Females 52 63 65 Males 50 59 62

Age composition (%)

0-14 years 44 39 32

15-64 years 52 57 63.7 65+ 4 4 4.2

Dependency ratio - 77 57

Citizenship (%)

Lao citizens 99.5 99.6 62.4 Foreign citizens 0.5 0.4 0.7

Ethno-linguistic group (%)

Lao-Tai 66 65 62.4

Mon-Khmer 23 23 23.7 Hmong-Mien 7 9 9.7

Chinese-Tibetan 3 3 2.9

Background

• Laos has the youngest population in GMS countries; elderly represent only 6.5% of the population

• Laos become a signatory of the “Political Declaration and Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in 2002

• National Committee for Disabled People and the Elderly was established in 2013

• Laos observes the International Day of Older Persons• Activities: Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare is working with Ministry of Public

Health to provide free health check up

• A number of provinces celebrate the International Day of Older Persons• Efforts have been made to set up revolving fund for older people e.g. Vientiane province


Background (cont.)

• Vientiane Association of Older People was established by veterans and retired politicians

• The Association has been upgraded to the National Association of Older People

• Between 2019 and 2020, Decree on Older People will be formulated and proposed to the National Assembly

• Help Age International worked with Lao Women’s Union and Lao Red Cross to boost “income and health of older people” in rural Laos between 2010-2012

• Laos is still lack far behind other ASEAN member states in terms of cares for older people


Older population in Laos


Population Percent Sex ratio

Total Female Male Total Female Male

60-64 Years 147,179 73,073 74,106 2.3 2.3 2.3 101

65-69 Years 98,901 51,338 47,563 1.5 1.6 1.5 93

70-74 Years 71,427 38,497 32,930 1.1 1.2 1 86

75-79 Years 47,078 25,207 21,871 0.7 0.8 0.7 87

80-84 Years 30,190 16,671 13,519 0.5 0.5 0.4 81

85-89 Years 15,267 8,523 6,744 0.2 0.3 0.2 79

90-94 Years 7,036 3,995 3,041 0.1 0.1 0.1 76

95 Years and over 5,198 3,276 1,922 0.1 0.1 0.1 59

Total 422,276 220,580 201,696 6.5 6.9 6.3 91


Institutional older population



Population Percent

Total Female Male Total Female Male

60-64 Years 1,327 257 1,070 0.6 0.5 0.7

65-69 Years 929 186 743 0.4 0.4 0.5

70-74 Years 764 150 614 0.4 0.3 0.4

75-79 Years 604 89 515 0.3 0.2 0.3

80-84 Years 420 65 355 0.2 0.1 0.2

85-89 Years 240 33 207 0.1 0.1 0.1

90-94 Years 93 21 72 - - -

95 Years and over 65 7 58 - - -

Total 4,442 808 3,634 2 1.6 2.2

Older population by location of settlement



Shares of Population Age 60+, ASEAN+3 Countries, 2015, 2030, 2050

5 December 2018 Source: United Nations. World population Prospects: The 2017 Revision 10

Shares of Population Age 60+, ASEAN+3 Countries, 2015, 2030, 2050

• Aging Trend: 2015-2050

The ASEAN +3 Countries Differ Significantly in term of their Share of The population that is above age 60. In 2015 Lao PDR had the lowest share (6%), followed by Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and The Philippines (7%)

The Oldest Countries were japan (33%), Singapore and Republic of Korea ( 18%) and Thailand ( 16 %)

During the next 35 years, the share of the older population is projected to double for the Philippine and more than double for every other country


Population Pyramids , Lao PDR, 2015, 2030

December 4, 2018 Source: United Nations. World population Prospects: The 2017 Revision 12


Life Expectancy at Birth, ASEAN+3 Countries, 2015, 2030, 2050


Graphical Illustration of Actors and their Relationships in Care Provision to Older Person


Challenges

• There is no specific data collection on older population

• Although a number of legal framework for older population have been developed, they inadequately address the issues

• Despite the fact that some legal frameworks exist, but nothing have been done due to a lack of budget from the Lao government

• Lack of sufficient human resources infrastructure to care for and accommodate older population


Preliminary research questions

1. What are the needs of older people in terms of cares and well-being particularly in rural areas of Laos?

2. Why the government of Laos failed to implement welfare policy for older population?

3. What are the possible channels for bring up the problems of older population into the national agenda?


FEMALE MIGRATION IN LAOS

Background

• Laos is one of the most displaced countries in the region due to conflicts and economic and development policies

• Females constitute 59.3% of internal migrants

• According to some studies, 30% of Lao migrant workers are females, but an accurate estimation is difficult to get due to a large number of migration flows take place outside the regular processes

• A large percentage of the Lao migrants are young people, age between 18-29, who own piece of land, but have limited education (Baker, 2013)

• Thailand become the most popular destination for Lao migrants thanks to better job opportunities and cultural and linguistic proximity

• They are working in domestic work, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and entertainment industry

5 December 2018 Female migration in Laos 19

Proportion of population who are life-time migrants


Source: Results of Population and Housing Census, 2015

Reasons for migration



Migration in the past 10 years among the population 10 years and over by province


Population 10 and over

All migrants Inter-Provincial Migrants

Number % of population 10+

Number % of population 10+

Lao PDR 5,131,036 379,359 7.4 206,039 4.0

Vientiane Capital 692,062 105,842 15.3 71,418 10.3

Phongsaly 135,442 8,234 6.1 2,373 1.8

Luangnamtha 136,235 10,033 7.4 5,984 4.4

Oudomxay 236,255 13,471 5.7 8,174 3.5

Bokeo 138,534 12,962 9.4 6,253 4.5

Luangprabang 334,990 23,009 6.9 8,826 2.6

Huaphanh 221,638 9,472 4.3 2,679 1.2

Xayabury 310,223 16,724 5.4 8,654 2.8

Xiengkhuang 187,494 11,222 6.0 3,507 1.9

Vientiane Province 333,850 29,591 8.9 21,816 6.5

Borikhamxay 213,700 19,525 9.1 11,031 5.2

Khammuane 311,449 14,837 4.8 7,091 2.3

Savannakhet 768,408 36,810 4.8 14,013 1.8

Saravane 303,519 13,526 4.5 5,750 1.9

Sekong 82,062 6,215 7.6 3,608 4.4

Champasack 555,415 26,501 4.8 9,332 1.7

Attapeu 107,058 8,397 7.8 4,587 4.3

Xaysomboun 62,702 12,988 20.7 10,943 17.5


Number of migrants by types of migration by sex of migrants


All migrants Types of migrants

Intra-Provincial Inter-Provincial Migrants from Abroad

Both sexes 379,359 131,242 206,039 42,078

Female 224,846 79,146 119,950 25,732

Male 154,513 52,078 86,089 16,346

Sex ratio 146 152 139 157


Out-flow of Lao nationals for employment


Source: International Labour Migration Statistics Database in ASEAN, International Labour Organization, 2017

Lao migrants to Thailand

• Five major provinces: Savannakhet, Khammuane, Champasack, Xayabury and Bokeo having one or more checkpoints

• 40% of illegal migrant workers from Savannakhet below 18 years of age; 80% were females (ILO, 2003)

• 60% of Lao migrant workers in Thailand had no work permits; 72% were women (ILO, 2007); and 50% below the age of 25 (Sisenglath, 2009)

• According to ILO (2003), Lao migration to Thailand steadily grows since the 1990s:• 1990-1994: 8%

• 1995-1999: 18%

• 2000-2003: 74%


Lao migrants to Thailand


Source: International Labour Migration Statistics Database in ASEAN, International Labour Organization, 2017

Challenges

• Lack of systematic data collection on labour migration among the Lao government agencies

• Illegal migrant workers are prone to exploitative employment and human trafficking • According to the Center for Counseling and Protection of Women and Children, the

number of human trafficking victims increased from 13 to 277 between 2006 and 2017

• Legal migration is complicated, take long time and expensive• Many recruitment agencies even charged higher fees than the amount allowed by laws

• Law enforcement is problematic due to a lack of financial and human resources


Preliminary research questions

1. What factors determining feminization of migration in Laos ?

2. What are the perceptions of female migrants on the risks related to migration to other countries

3. In what ways the problems related to illegal migration could be resolved?


Thank you for your attention


Documents

POPULATION AGEING AND FEMALE MIGRATION IN LAOS · Background •Laos has the youngest population in GMS countries; elderly represent only 6.5% of the population •Laos become a signatory