For ease in issuing social pension to elderlies living within Mon Region in Kyaukgyi Township, Taungoo District, members of parliament from Kyaukgyi Township and officials from Immigration Department made a field trip on October 6.

“The government previously gave out social pension to 90 years old citizens. But now, it is being given to elderly persons of 85 years of age. Besides, ID cards belonging to the elderly people have been mostly destroyed or unreadable over the years. Therefore, to be able to smooth and convenient in issuing social pensions to elderly people, we visited homes of the elders one after another and gave out new ID cards. With the aim of easily obtaining their rightful social pensions while they are still alive, we are making home trips in order to issue the ID cards,” said Nyi Zaw Htat, official from Kyaukgyi Township Immigration Department.

Besides issuing ID cards to elders, ID cards were also issued to 176 students from Mon basic high school.

Kyaukgyi Township is one of the most landmines-affected areas in Myanmar and there are about 300 disabled people that have been maimed or disfigured after stepping on one.

The government is drafting effective strategies to provide better support for the elderly in cooperation with civil organizations just like in developed countries.

The social pension is the first government-sponsored monthly cash transfer programme for the elderly and is part of the 2014 state-level elderly protection strategy.

 The Myanmar government enacted the Myanmar Ageing Law in 2016.

The law defines “elders” as people aged over 60. The proportion of the population 60 years and older is increasing, and is now about one out of every 11 people.

According to the 2015-2016 projections about older people in Myanmar, there are 4.75 million seniors, or 9.06 percent of the country’s 51 million people.