Disability among the Elderly in Indonesia: An Analysis of Spatial and Socio-demographic Correlates

Disability is more prevalent among the elderly. However, evidence on the factors associated with disability among them is limited. Therefore, this paper addresses the spatial and socio-demographic correlates of disability among individuals aged 60 and over in Indonesia. We employ data from the 2013 Indonesian National Socioeconomic Survey (SUSENAS). We defined disability as having any difficulties in doing daily activities using the ‘Low Threshold’ assumption. We fitted a multivariable logistic regression model to the dataset and evaluated statistical significance at the 95% level. The final regression model is statistically significant (P<0.001) with a sample of 23,709 individuals. The results show that 45.35% of the elderly reported being disabled. Moreover, higher age is associated with higher odds of being disabled (OR = 1.16; 95%; 95% CI = 1.10-1.23). An elderly living without a spouse is more likely to be disabled (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.43-1.64). We also observed provincial differences in disabilities. Furthermore, elderly living in rural areas have higher odds of being disabled (OR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.12-1.25) compared to their urban counterparts. Our results imply that the Indonesian elderly with certain characteristics are more vulnerable than others which requires long term care.