SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND HOUSE HOLD POVERTY AMONG THE OLDER PERSONS IN NIGERIA

Background--It is unknown how social exclusion impact household poverty among the older persons in Nigeria. This has become essential in order to improve the preparation for old age among Nigerians. Reliable information is also required to formulate comprehensive social security system for the elderly. Methods----- Data were gathered using questionnaire and multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 242 respondents. Simple percentages, cross tabulations and chi-square hypothesis were used to analyze the data. Findings ---- More than half of the respondents admitted to have been discriminated based on their age while about one-third of the respondents said they have not been discriminated based on their age. This indicates that the concept of ageism which is prejudice based on age still persists. The study found out the majority of the respondents agreed that household poverty is an important predictor of whether or not an elderly would be socially excluded. The era of extended households have been evaded by nuclear a household which is a modern development. These changes have left the aged persons at the mercy of themselves. The exclusion of the elderly is evident in the rate at which they have been uprooted from the social networking in the society. Conclusion----- Changing social institutions have severe implications for the aged as the nature and structure of the family is changing, more young people are leaving agricultural areas which are the basic residence of the aged persons, growing wage economy outside agriculture, over-reliance on formal support by the elderly and declining family income.