Hi Steemers, as promised, here are my thoughts on how global aging affects us.
We are living in a time of unprecedented global population aging. For the first time in history, driven by longer life spans and lower birth rates, the number of people aged 65 and above will be greater than the number of children under age 5. Known as the “crossing”, this phenomenon is expected to occur around 2020.
According to census date, currently, 1 out of every 8 people in the world is aged 60 or older, and by 2050 (less than 35 years away), a whopping 1 out of every 5 people will be aged 60 or above.
With widespread aging populations, what might our future look like?
Challenges of an aging society
Shortage of labor: Already in parts of rural United States, employers are finding it difficult to replace retiring workers. Young people leave for college and head for the cities, leaving rural employers with a dwindling workforce. Labor shortage is not restricted to the countryside, but will affect any community where more people are leaving the workforce than are joining it.
Would it help to allow older people to continue to work in a semi-retirement arrangement, and to allow students to work as apprentices after school and during school holidays? I personally would love if my kids had more opportunities engage with the “real” world at a younger age
Pressure on government retirement benefit systems: Longer life expectancies and more people retiring than young people to replace them makes it difficult for governments to fund retirement benefit systems.
Many countries are trying to reduce the pressure on government retirement benefit systems by raising the retirement age. For example, the retirement age in the United States has risen from age 65 for those born before 1943 to 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
Nobody likes to have the retirement age raised, but if it helps make retirement benefits sustainable, I guess I can take one for the team.
People are still free to stop working before the retirement age, they just won’t qualify to receive the full retirement benefits until the retirement age. Also, the increase in life expectancies is still greater than the increase in retirement age, so hopefully we can still look forward to enjoy many years after reaching retirement age.
Pressure on government healthcare systems: Healthcare for older populations tend to be more expensive than healthcare for younger populations.
Well, healthcare costs in the US is a big, big issue, and I won’t even pretend to have the expertise to even begin to address it. However, I do see other countries being able to control costs much better than the US, so I remain hopeful that this is a solvable problem.
Benefits of an aging population
Accumulation of knowledge and experience: With increased life expectancy, society can tap into the rich experience and knowledge of its older populations. In particular, professions that rely heavily on accumulated experience and skills will benefit.
More services and products geared towards older population: With a larger percentage of older people in the population, there will opportunities for companies to provide services and products geared towards older people. For example, people who have already retired have more time to travel, so there are opportunities to provide travel services for this population.
When fully autonomous driving vehicles become available, they will probably be a big hit with many people, but I expect they will also be an especially big hit amongst older people.
As a side note, I also hope more teenagers will ride in autonomous driving vehicles as this age group is the most prone to engage in risky driving behaviors.
Childcare: In many societies, people continue to live in multi-generational families. Childcare provided by grandparents and other older relatives can be an incredible boon to young parents, giving them greater flexibility with their time and opportunities for much-needed rest.
I for one definitely appreciated my parents' and in-laws' help with my kids - they babysat, took them on trips, read to them, and even taught them how to ride a bike!
How do you think global aging affects you?
For those of you who like to look at data, I am attaching the following figures for your perusal.
Figure are from the World Health Organization's report titled "Global Health and Aging." http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/global_health.pdf
