Assessing the welfare level of the elderly in Iran based on development indicators from the perspective of Islam

In recent years, the distribution of the country's population has changed to older ages and the phenomenon of aging can be seen in Iran like other parts of the world. The aging trend of the population, along with its various consequences on productivity and economic growth highlights the importance of the position of this population group, their needs and the government's attention to their level of welfare. Given the increasing share of the elderly in the total population of the country and considering the importance that Islam has given to the aging and the elderly, it is worthwhile to study the socio-economic well-being indicators related to this group of the population in order to provide solutions by policymakers and to improve their welfare. To conduct this study, first by reviewing the documents related to the status of the elderly from the perspective of Islam, indicators rooted in Islamic principles and texts were identified, then the data required for them was extracted from the census and household expenditure data of Statistical Center of Iran in 2016. In the next phase, the indicators of economic participation rate, employment rate, dependency ratio of unemployed elderly, poverty rate, ratio of salaried elderly, parental support ratio, literacy rate, percentage of people with university education, ratio of insured elderly, housing ownership rate, exposure rate of health catastrophic costs related to the elderly were extracted for the provinces of Iran. Finally, using TOPSIS analysis, the provinces were ranked based on these indicators. Findings indicate that the elderly in the provinces of Tehran, Gilan and Alborz are in the best conditions compared to the rest, and the provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, and Hormozgan have the most unsuitable conditions for the elderly. Thus, despite the special attention of Islam to the elderly and their living conditions, only about 10% of the provinces are suitable for the elderly, 32% of the provinces are almost suitable, and about 58% of the provinces have no suitable conditions for the elderly.