The Impact of Past Conflicts and Social Disruption on the Elderly in Cambodia

Abstract

In this article we examine some of the long-term consequences of the civil war that took place in Cambodia in the 1970s and the radical revolutionary regime that it ushered in for the current generation of older people in Cambodia. The analysis concerns individuals aged 60 years and older in 2004 when a survey of Cambodias elderly population was undertaken; these individuals were aged 30 and older during the height of the unrest. The war and its aftermath resulted in a substantial number of deaths in addition to the displacement of masses of individuals and the dismantling of families. The data we examine allow us to link deaths of family members occurring some 30 years earlier to measures related to the welfare of older adults including indicators of living arrangements support and economic well-being. Our analysis investigates the extent to which the surviving generation of older adults experienced the deaths of children and spouses forced migration and family separation and explores the long-term association between war-related events and measures of current well-being. (authors)