90% of Indonesian Workers Are Now Sandwich Generation

The term "sandwich generation" was first introduced by Dorothy A. Miller in 1981. The concept describes individuals who simultaneously carry the economic burden of two generations: parents who are no longer productive on one side, and children who are not yet independent on the other. Those squeezed in the middle are what we call the sandwich generation.

In Indonesia, this condition is not only common but also considered culturally normal. A working adult supporting their parents is a deeply rooted social norm, established long before there was an academic name for it. The problem is not this value. The problem lies in the fact that the support systems to ease that burden are almost nonexistent.

Carol Abaya, an elder care expert, divides the sandwich generation into three categories. The Traditional Sandwich Generation covers adults aged 40 to 50 who support elderly parents and dependent children. The Club Sandwich Generation is more complex because its burden includes parents, children, grandchildren, and even grandparents, spanning a wider age range of 30 to 60. Meanwhile, the Open-Faced Sandwich Generation refers to anyone involved in caring for the elderly without doing so as a profession.

Two structural pressures are working at the same time and reinforcing each other.

First, Indonesia's elderly population is growing faster than the pension system's capacity to support it. Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows the dependency ratio of the non-productive population to the productive population reached 44.67% in 2022. That figure rose to 47.2% in 2024 and is projected to hit 47.3% in 2025. Every one-point rise in this ratio means millions of additional workers carrying more dependents.

Data from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in 2023 recorded that Indonesia's population aged 60 and above had already reached 30.9 million people, equal to 11.1% of the total population. By 2050, that figure is projected to surge to 64.9 million people, or 20.5% of the population. This means the sandwich generation burden is not peaking now. It will only reach its peak two to three decades from now.

Second, the previous generation entered retirement age without adequate financial preparation. A BPS survey shows that 78.27% of elderly household expenses are supported by family members who are still working. When parents have no retirement savings, that responsibility automatically shifts onto their children's shoulders.

Financial pressure is the entry point, but its impact spreads to other areas. A Katadata Insight Center survey for Astra Life in September 2021 interviewed 1,828 respondents aged 25 to 45 from across Indonesia. The results revealed a large gap between confidence and reality: 82.6% of the sandwich generation believed they could care for their dependents well, yet only 13.4% were truly financially ready.

In addition, 52.2% had not prepared an emergency fund. As many as 67.7% had no education fund for their children. And 33% had no savings at all. High confidence combined with low readiness is a dangerous combination, especially when a crisis arrives suddenly.

The 2026 Sun Life survey adds another layer to this picture. As many as 40% of Indonesian respondents admitted to lowering their lifestyle expectations in retirement, while 77% expect they will still have to work even after reaching retirement age. For the sandwich generation, retirement is not a destination but a luxury that feels distant.

On the psychological side, 44% of respondents who felt anxious stated that their biggest worry was the inability to provide financial support to their family. This pressure places the sandwich generation in an emotionally difficult position, because they are not only fighting for themselves but also for the people they love in two directions at once.

For policymakers, this data reinforces the urgency of two long-delayed priorities: expanding old-age social security coverage and improving cross-generational financial literacy. As long as parents enter old age without resources, their productive children will continue to bear a burden that should be a collective responsibility.

For brands and companies, the sandwich generation is not just a pressured consumer segment. They are purchasing decision-makers for three layers at once: elderly products for their parents, education and growth products for their children, and daily necessities for themselves. Understanding the pressures they face is not optional. It is a prerequisite for communicating in a relevant way.

For Indonesia's young people themselves, these numbers confirm something they have felt at the end of every month. This situation is not an individual failure. It is the result of a system that was never designed to carry a demographic burden this large.

Indonesia is heading toward 2045 with great ambition. But as long as its productive generation is squeezed from two directions without an adequate safety net, the potential of its demographic dividend risks never being fully realized.