Health Status and Economic Security of the Aged Population

Global ageing is the result of two sweeping forces: falling fertility (fewer births per woman) and rising longevity (longer lives). The first decreases the relative number of young in the population, while the second increases the relative number of old. World population is aged as the number and proportion of older people is project to increase to 22 per cent by 2050 from 9.9 per cent in 2000. Increase in the proportion of aged people is one of the major features of demographic transition in the world. This is expected to have serious consequences on local, regional, and global economies. Due to rising old-age dependency ratio of aged to working-age population, the burden of caring for the aged is shifting from families to govemment, businesses, unions and other institutions as well as to the aged themselves through personal savings for old age.