Well-being And Social Policies

The economic effects of an aging population are considerable. Older people have higher accumulated savings per head than younger people, but spend less on consumer goods. Depending on the age ranges at which the changes occur, an aging population may thus result in lower interest rates and the economic benefits of lower inflation. Because elderly people are more inflation averse, countries with more elderly tend to exhibit lower inflation rates. The largest area of expenditure in many countries is now health care , whose cost is likely to increase dramatically as populations age. This would present governments with hard choices between higher taxes , including a possible reweighing of tax from earnings to consumption, and a reduced government role in providing health care. The expectation of continuing population ageing prompts questions about welfare states’ capacity to meet the needs of their population. In the early 2000s, the World Health Organization set up guidelines to encourage “active ageing” and to help local governments address the challenges of an ageing population with regard to urbanization, housing, transportation, social participation, health services and so on.Aging population is a serious global issue these days, we are supposed to focus on it.

Aging around the world

  Asia and Europe are the two regions where a significant number of countries face population ageing. Within twenty years, many countries in these regions will face a situation where the largest population cohort will be those over 65 and average age approach 50 years old. And nowadays most of the developed countries  have sub-replacement fertility levels, and population growth now depends largely on immigration together with population momentum, which arises from previous large generations now enjoying longer life expectancy.

What Is Aging Population

  Population aging is an increasing median age in the population of a region due to declining fertility rates  and rising life expectancy. It's a shift in the distribution of a country's population towards older ages. Most countries have rising life expectancy and an ageing population, which trends that emerged first in developed countries, but which are now seen in virtually all developing countries. This is the case for every country in the world except the 18 countries designated as "demographic outliers" by the UN, UT he aged population is currently at its highest level in human history.The UN predicts the rate of population ageing in the 21st century will exceed that of the previous century.