ABSTRACT
Older people also play a crucial role in organizing and supervising religious events and village projects. The real threats to the livelihood and dignity of older people in Cambodia are not from the past but from the present and future. The two most serious problems at present are poverty and lack of competent and affordable healthcare. The majority of older people in the rural areas have to go without the basic aids for sight and eating which would greatly improve their standard of living because they are too poor and such aids are not easily available in the countryside. Although Cambodia is not yet experiencing the large scale rural to urban migration that many developing countries have, unequal geographic development is already apparent. Although older people are still regarded as sources of advice, primary education is making grandchildren more "educated" than their illiterate grandparents.
