Caring for the Elderly: What Nursing Homes Reveal About an Aging Society
8 Jan.
Author: ZHANG YAO
Editor: YANG JIALIN
As the number of elderly residents continues to grow, elderly care has become an increasingly important topic in public discussion. Nursing homes are no longer simply alternatives to family care, but indicators of how society responds to the dignity, well-being and emotional needs of older people.
[Photo by ZHANG YAO]
According to data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the proportion of Malaysians aged 65 and above has increased steadily in recent years, rising from around six percent a decade ago to more than seven percent in recent estimates. In 2010, the elderly population stood at approximately 1.4 million people, accounting for about five percent of the total population. By 2023, this figure had risen to more than 2.5 million, representing over seven percent of the population. The increase has been driven mainly by longer life expectancy and declining birth rates. Government reports have noted that Malaysia is expected to transition into an aging nation in the coming decades, placing greater pressure on healthcare services, social support systems and long-term elderly care facilities.
From a practical perspective, nursing homes play an important role in meeting basic care needs. Many facilities provide stable living environments, medical assistance and daily support for elderly individuals who face mobility challenges or lack family support. However, discussions about nursing homes often go beyond whether seniors have a place to stay. Increasingly, public concern focuses on whether elderly residents are living with dignity. Several studies have pointed out that loneliness and emotional isolation remain common among residents, raising questions about the overall quality of elderly care.
[Photo by ZHANG YAO]
Datuk Patrick Sim, a community leader in the Cheras area, said elderly care should be viewed as a shared social responsibility rather than a private family issue. He noted that as family structures change, society needs to play a more active role in ensuring that older people are not left behind. According to him, nursing homes should be supported not only through facilities and funding, but also through sustained public attention and community involvement.
It is also important to recognize that challenges faced by nursing homes are not solely the result of management issues within individual institutions. Rather, they reflect broader social changes. Smaller family sizes, urban migration and cross-border mobility have made traditional family-based care more difficult to sustain. As a result, nursing homes have taken on responsibilities once carried by families. Yet public attention and resource allocation do not always match the scale of these responsibilities. This raises a critical question: should elderly care remain a private family matter, or is it a shared responsibility of society as a whole?
In recent years, visits to nursing homes organized by student groups and non-governmental organizations have introduced new perspectives to the discussion. While such initiatives cannot solve structural problems within the elderly care system, they help reduce emotional isolation among residents and encourage younger generations to reflect on aging as a life stage. Direct interaction with elderly individuals allows participants to better understand the realities of aging beyond abstract statistics.
Wang Tong, an organizer of community outreach activities involving international students, said visits to nursing homes help young people better understand the realities of aging beyond statistics and reports. He noted that many students only become aware of elderly care issues after direct interaction with residents. “When students sit down and talk to the elderly, they begin to see aging as a shared social issue rather than something distant or abstract,” he said.
Nevertheless, volunteer efforts alone are not enough to address the long-term challenges of an aging population. More comprehensive responses are needed from the government, social institutions and the public. Improving professional training for care workers, upgrading facility conditions and strengthening cooperation between community-based care and institutional care are among the areas that require further attention and discussion.
Ultimately, nursing homes are more than care facilities; they serve as mirrors of social values. How a society treats its elderly often indicates how it will one day treat those who are growing old. Rather than viewing elderly care as an issue affecting only others, it should be understood as a shared challenge that concerns everyone. Only when institutional support and human compassion go hand in hand can nursing homes truly become places where seniors spend their later years with dignity, rather than a last resort.