Assessing the impact of old age security expectation on elderly persons' achieved fertility in Nigeria

Elias O. Wahab, Lagos State University

This is addressed by examining the fact that due to the dearth of formal care for the elderly, the onus for the care of this class of people rest squarely on their children. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select LGAs, EAs and individuals for the study. In all, 810 respondents were interviewed. Logistic regression model was used to determine the net effects of the explanatory factors on the welfare of the elderly. The study found that some elderly persons gave birth to certain number of children in expectation of old age care. Education and religion are related to the family size of the elderly persons. Those with primary level of education are 4.3 times more likely to see high number of children as important source of old age security than those secondary level of education. The study concludes on the need for well-organised social security system for old persons.