New Delhi, June 3: For Calcutta’s sixty-plus, healthy isn’t necessarily wealthy.

The elderly in the Bengal capital are, on an average, healthier than their peers in other Indian metros but have the highest demand for social security, an eight-city study by an international NGO has said.

Fewer than two out of 10 residents over 60 questioned in Calcutta said they suffered from a chronic disease, in contrast with the one in every three who face the same diseases on an average across the cities covered.

Four out of 10 of the city’s respondents also said they faced no recurring health-related problems, higher than those in Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai — the other metros covered in the study by HelpAge India. Lucknow, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad were the other cities surveyed.

But the aged in Calcutta have also expressed higher demand for social security — pensions, free medical care, helplines — than in any other city surveyed.

They also relied less on children for health expenses than their counterparts in other cities, a finding the researchers said might explain their need for social security.

“On reading these two findings together, it becomes clear that the aged in Calcutta are relying on social security more than in other cities, but feel the services in the city are inadequate. Hence the high demand for social security,” said Rajesh Devarakonda, who headed the study.

The findings could also indicate that the elderly in Calcutta are seeking greater independence than the aged in other cities. Only 10.6 per cent of the city’s elderly residents who were questioned said they felt the need for more love and respect from those younger.

The researchers interviewed 2,019 people across the eight cities — approximately 300 in each metro and 200 in non-metro cities. In Calcutta, 302 residents were interviewed.

Each city was divided into five zones — east, west, north, south and central. Three “starting points” (SP), spread across a zone, were identified for each of the five demarcated areas. From each SP, houses were picked using random sampling, till the sample size was obtained.

The study, released today, has also thrown up unexpected statistics on the condition of the aged in Delhi, regarded unsafe for the elderly. A 75-year-old woman was killed in Delhi’s posh Greater Kailash area yesterday in the latest of a series of murders of old men, women and even couples.

Delhi’s elderly, however, rarely feel insecure, compared with their counterparts in the other metros. Chennai ranked the most insecure for senior residents.

“In Delhi, we found that senior citizens were much more at ease with their loneliness and were much better prepared to deal with issues of security. In Chennai, where family bonds have traditionally been stronger, the sense of insecurity is rising because of the sudden boom of nuclear families there,” Devarakonda said.