Bangladesh	India	Nepal	Pakistan	Sri Lanka
Retirement age (years)	Public sector (freedom fighters): 60, the government has implemented a court directive to lengthen service by 1 yearPublic sector (non-freedom fighters): 591	Public sector: 60,2 raised to 65 years for central government doctors3 Private sector: 582	Public sector: 58, but deferred in certain instances Health professionals and Parliament workers: 60 Teachers: 63 Court workers: 654	60 (men), 55 (women), with at least 15 years of contributions; miners can claim the pension earlier under certain conditions5 Government has proposed for retirement age to be increased to 636	557
Old age social pension	Old Age Allowance Targeting approach: income-tested Eligibility criteria: age ≥65 (men) and ≥62 (women) with an annual income of <10,000 takas ($118), not receiving any other government or nongovernment allowance, only one member of a family can receive the pension Monthly benefit: 500 takas ($6) (paid every 3 months)5,8 Government plans to introduce a universal pension scheme for private sector jobholders9	Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme Targeting approach: income-tested Eligibility criteria: age ≥60, with an annual income not exceeding a certain limit, which may vary across states Monthly benefit: 200 rupees if age 60–79500 rupees if aged ≥80; additional amounts may be paid and vary by state5,10 Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension SchemeTargeting approach: income-tested Eligibility criteria: widows aged ≥40, with annual income not exceeding a certain limit, which may vary by stateMonthly benefit: 300 rupees5,10	Old Age Allowance Targeting approach: pensions-tested Eligibility Criteria: age ≥65 (≥60 for Dalits, single and divorced women, and residents of Karnali Zone)Monthly benefit: 2000 rupees; 1,000 for members of the Rautes, Chepang, and certain other ethnic groups (paid every four months)5,11	Social insurance system5,12	Senior Citizen’s Allowance for Strengthen Elderly Targeting approach: income-testedEligibility criteria: age ≥70 with income below a certain thresholdMonthly benefit: 2000 Sri Lankan rupees13
Social protection for people with dementia	No financial benefits/social protection for dementia carers14	Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme Targeting approach: income-tested Eligibility criteria: aged ≥18, with an assessed degree of disability ≥80% and annual income not exceeding a certain limit, which may vary across statesMonthly benefit: 300 rupees (central contribution), additional amounts may be paid and vary by state5	Department of Health Services provides 100,000 Nepalese rupees to patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, to cover the cost of healthcare from four enlisted hospitals (National Academy of Medical Sciences, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Patan Academy of Health Sciences in Kathmandu Valley and BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan)20	No government policy for people living with dementia21	Not available
		Integrated Programme for Older Persons Scheme Provides funding for up to 90% of the project costs to eligible agencies for establishing and maintaining old-age homes, day care centres, mobile medicare units and delivering non-institutional services to older persons–includes the running of day care centres for patients with dementia15 Assistance for construction of old-age homes for older persons Scheme Provides funding for construction of old-age homes–Scheme is presently under formulation15
		Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana Provides physical aids and assisted-living devices to senior citizens belonging to the below the poverty line (BPL) category16 Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Provides coverage of up to 500,000 rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation to over 107.4 million eligible poor and vulnerable families (approximately 500 million beneficiaries)17
		Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 Mandates needs-based maintenance (food, clothing, residence, medical attendance and treatment) for parents/grandparents from their children to protect the life and property of senior citizens15 Income Tax Act 1961Section 80 U: deduction can be claimed by an individual if they are certified by the medical authority to be a person with disability18 Section 80DDB: deduction can be claimed by an individual for themselves or a dependant relative, for expenditures incurred for medical treatment of specified diseases,18 including dementia19
State care homes	Community-based services for dementia are available, but in the capital and main cities only14 Six aged care homes (Santi Nibas) in six divisions22	Six full-time residential care facilities and around ten day-care services exclusively for people with dementia23 Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 contains enabling provisions for setting up of old-age homes for providing maintenance to senior citizens15	70 old-age homes (OAHs), of which 11 get government grants24 One government-run residential facility (Pashupati Bridrashram), with the capacity for 230 older adults24,25	Very few old-age homes located in Karachi, run by charities, though none specifically for people with dementia26 Families are more likely to accept home help than send persons with dementia to a nursing home21 No tradition of old-age homes, reliance is on older adults co-residing with family27	Most residential care homes are run by local, often faith-based, voluntary social service organisations: two-thirds have 30 places or fewer, 18% have more than 50 places and there are a growing number of private fee-paying long-term care residential homes, most in or near Colombo, caring for 10–30 people28

¹Tribune Desk. Public sector freedom fighters’ retirement age extended. Dhaka Tribune [Internet]. 11 April 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2018/04/11/public-sector-freedom-fighters-retirement-age-extended.

²TNN. At 58, retirement age in India is one of the lowest worldwide. The Times of India [Internet]. 25 April 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/63905499.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.

³Express Web Desk. Retirement age of central govt doctors raised to 65 years. The Indian Express [Internet]. 27 September 2017 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/retirement-age-of-central-govt-doctors-to-be-increased-to-65-years-4863882/.

⁴Panday J. Government to revise retirement age for everyone on its payrolls to 60 years. The Himalayan Times [Internet]. 1 August 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/government-to-revise-retirement-age-for-everyone-on-its-payrolls-to-60-years/.

⁵The USA Social Security Administration. Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Asia and the Pacific, 2018. Washington, D.C.: Social Security Administration; 2019. (SSA Publication No. 13.11802).

⁶Ashfaq M. Govt to increase retirement age by three years. DAWN [Internet]. 12 December 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.dawn.com/news/1450879.

⁷Salary.lk. Social Security and Pensions in Sri Lanka [Internet]. [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://salary.lk/labour-law/social-security/social-security-and-pensions-1.

⁸Pension Watch. Bangladesh [Internet]. [cited 6 April 2020]. Available from: http://www.pension-watch.net/country-fact-file/bangladesh.

⁹Senior Correspondent. Bangladesh plans to embrace universal pension era. bdnews24com [Internet]. 8 June 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://bdnews24.com/economy/2018/06/08/bangladesh-plans-to-embrace-universal-pension-era.

¹⁰Pension Watch. India [Internet]. [cited 6 April 2020]. Available from: http://www.pension-watch.net/country-fact-file/india.

¹¹Pension Watch. Nepal [Internet]. [cited 6 April 2020]. Available from: http://www.pension-watch.net/country-fact-file/nepal.

¹²Pension Watch. Pakistan [Internet]. [cited 6 April 2020]. Available from: http://www.pension-watch.net/country-fact-file/pakistan.

¹³Pension Watch. Sri Lanka [Internet]. [cited 6 April 2020]. Available from: http://www.pension-watch.net/country-data/sri-lanka/.

¹⁴World Health Organization. Global Dementia Observatory (GDO) Provisional Country Profile 2017: Bangladesh [Internet]. [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.who.int/mental_health/neurology/dementia/bangladesh_GDO_profile.pdf.

¹⁵Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Senior Citizen Division [Internet]. [cited 5 February 2021]. Available from: http://socialjustice.nic.in/Home/SiteSearch?Search=senior%20citizen%20division.

¹⁶National Portal of India. Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana [Internet]. [cited 14 May 2020]. Available from: https://www.india.gov.in/spotlight/rashtriya-vayoshri-yojana.

¹⁷National Health Authority. Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana [Internet]. [cited 5 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.pmjay.gov.in/about/pmjay.

¹⁸Income Tax Department. Government of India. Deductions [Internet]. [cited 11 April 2020]. Available from: https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/_layouts/15/dit/Pages/viewer.aspx?path=https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Charts%20%20Tables/Deductions.htm&grp=&searchFilter=&k=&IsDlg=0.

¹⁹Income Tax Department. Government of India. Specified diseases and ailments for the purpose of deduction under section 80DDB [Internet]. [cited 11 April 2020]. Available from: https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Rules/Income-Tax%20Rules/103120000000007232.htm.

²⁰Koirala S. Alzheimer’s Disease in Nepal. Nepal: HelpAge International; 2016. http://ageingnepal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Alzheimers-disease-in-Nepal_final_sharad.pdf.

²¹Zaidi A, Willis R, Farina N, Balouch S, Jafri H, Ahmed I Understanding, Beliefs and Treatment of Dementia in Pakistan: Final Report. Age International, Age UK & HelpAge International; 2019. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/429832/1/DiP_Final_Report_31_January_2019.pdf.

²²Hossain I, Akhtar T, Uddin T. The Elderly Care Services and their Current Situation in Bangladesh: An Understanding from Theoretical Perspective. J Med Sci. 2006;6(2):131–8.

²³Shaji KS, Jotheeswaran AT, Girish N, Bharath S, Dias A, Pattabiraman M The Dementia India Report 2010: Prevalence, impact, costs and services for dementia. New Delhi: Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India; 2010. (ISBN978819203410 2).

²⁴Shrestha L. Residential Care Home for Elderly People in Nepal: Geriatric health in Nepal [Internet]. [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.ifa-fiv.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IFA-presentation-2014.pdf.

²⁵Shrestha L. Geriatric Health in Nepal: Concerns and Experience. Nepal Med Coll J. 2012;15(2):144–8.

²⁶2020 email from M Khan to NRM; unreferenced.

²⁷Majid H, Memon S. Elderly care in Pakistan. DAWN [Internet]. 19 February 2018 [cited 12 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.dawn.com/news/1390240.

²⁸United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. SDD-SPPS Project Working Papers Series: Long-term Care for Older Persons in Asia and the Pacific: Long-term Care for Older Persons in Sri Lanka. Bangkok: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; 2016.