IS AGEING A PROBLEM?

　　Everyone in the world wishes that their dearly loved live long. All their wishes will be fulfilled as more children in the world will know their grand parents and even their great-grand parents, especially their great-grandmothers as women live six to eight years longer than men. The fact is the number of people aged 80 years or older will be reaching to 396 million between 2000 and 2050. This is a cause for celebration. It sounds good as long as everyone is physically and economically active as we turn old. But, the human biological system changes as we grow. It is the process of aging that makes it harder in terms of biological, emotional, intellectual, and social changes. The elderly - needy to look after, are not seen as a resource but as a burden in many countries. The serious global issue is aging population.

　　Population aging is the process by which the older individuals become a proportionally larger share of the total population. Aging population poses social and economic challenges to individuals, families and societies. It is understood that between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%. The population aged 60 and over is likely to increase from 605 million to 2 billion over the same period.

　　There are some factors that influence the size of the aging population: the decline in natural fertility, social attitudes to fertility and reproduction (improvement in contraceptive technology) and an advent of effective medical treatment (improved nutrition and sanitation) resulted in increase in life expectancy (increase longevity).

　　The fertility rate refers to the average number of children per woman. The world's total fertility rate halved to 2.5 children per woman today in comparison to 1950 and is projected to fall further to about 2.3 by 2050. As families have fewer children, the share of old age population increases. Women who have many children find it harder to improve the economic and social status of their families than those with fewer children. As fertility declines, the proportion of children in the population falls and the proportion of working age population increases, resulting in a lower dependency ratio. This demographic dividend results in the improvements in the standard of living of people, raises per head income, produces a high savings ratio, reduces poverty and increases the real GDP of an economy. In contrast, in the long run, if fertility rates decline continuously, the proportion of the working age population declines also, what it means is, there will be rise in old age (60 and over) dependency ratio.

　　'A Demographic time bomb' is a high level of old people that will cripple the growth of the economy. The increase in life expectancy is an economic good. It is true that a large non-working aging population has important implications for the economy. Aging will strain pensions and social security systems, increase demand for acute and primary health care, require a larger and better trained health workforce and increase the need for long term care. This implies the productive old age group will have to provide direct support to older relatives and funding by taxation for social care will grow.

　　The UN Population Division data says the global life expectancy increased to 68 years today from 48 years in comparison to 1950. It has been projected that in the mid century the global life expectancy will rise further to 76 years. The UN figures predict that by the middle of the century the over 60s will make up 22% of the world's population, and up to 40% in countries such as Japan and South Korea. By 2050, 80% of the 2 billion elderly people on this planet will live in the developing world.

　　Sadly, many developing countries are unprepared to meet the adequate needs of health-care related policies with respect to developed countries. The two most populous countries, China and India, are ill-prepared. By 2050 more than a quarter of the China's population will be over 65 years old and younger generations face an unprecedented burden of care. China believes that by the time the population has aged substantially, they will be rich enough to take care of their older citizen. According to UN figures, the ratio of those aged 60 and over across the world rose by 3 percentage points in the 60 years from 1950 to 2010, while in China it increased by 3.8 percentage points in just the 10years from 2000 to 2010. In addition, China is one of a few countries in the world in which the population has aged before becoming rich or even moderately rich. More than 60% of the world's ageing nations reached that threshold when their GDP per capita exceeded $10,000, but China GDP per capita was less than $1000. Interestingly, filial piety to take care of parents in old age is already in the culture of some developing countries like China and India. Additionally, there is a legal system in place in these countries if the adult population do not look after their old parents they can be imprisoned.

　　In the developing countries, only 20% of the labour force is included in regular social security systems with retirement a luxury only few older people can afford. Even if the formal sector requires them to retire, insufficient transfer incomes forces older people to continue working in informal economy (about 40% in Africa and 25% in Asia, mostly in agriculture). The strategies to deal with this issue are to prepare to have adequate state funded basic pensions and a greater emphasis on health care programmes through government policies.

　　Wealthy countries are better prepared for aging problems. Sweden, where the pension system is now 100 years old now, makes the top of the list because of its social support, education and health coverage, followed by Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.

　　The International Labour organization (ILO) provides solutions to make this problem manageable. It says, it may be changing employment policies in order to enable older workers to stay longer in employment should they wish and to make it attractive for them to do so. The ILO therefore proposes the introduction of a gradual and flexible transition from active working life to retirement, coupled with measures to prevent discrimination in employment and policies to train and retrain older workers. Other steps should include the promotion of lifelong learning as well as developing the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) to open up employment and training possibilities for older people.

　　Social transfer systems should be kept in financial equilibrium by sharing the financial burden of ageing fairly between the active and inactive populations. A report by ILO suggests investing more time into researching the scope and limitations of migration replacement as a solution to population ageing.

　　Ageing is unavoidable. To older adults it is good to do some regular physical exercise to keep themselves fit, abstain from smoking and alcohol, and to have a balanced diet in order to control blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. More importantly, developing interpersonal engagement (quality of relationships with friends and neighbours) helps being occupied.

　　Ageism is avoidable. Ageism challenges are not insurmountable if the sociological elements are supportive. The attitudes of young individuals should value and respect the experiences of the older people we love. To make older adults happy, it must be ensured that they are socially connected and their brains are actively engaged (seeking their advices). To break the loneliness more opportunities are created for them to spend more time with the family, especially with grand children.

　　Sources: BBC, ILO, UN, and WHO