Europe's Aging Population : Europe

The rapid growth in the number of seniors in America and around the world is creating a global demographic revolution without precedent. During this century, advances in hygiene and water supply and control of infectious diseases have reduced the risk of premature death much. As a result, the proportion of population over 60 years in the world is growing faster than in any previous era. In 1950 there were approximately 200 million people aged over 60 worldwide. By 2000 there will be over 550 million, and by 2025, the number of people over 60 is expected to reach 1,200 million.

In the last few centuries, Europe has experienced major changes both in its population makeup and number. Be that as it may, in the last two decades, it has been faced with an unprecedented decline in population growth while struggling with the issue of an aging population. Indeed, from Helsinki to Lisbon, the birth rate has fallen dramatically in recent years. It has fallen so much so that most countries have put together some form of policies to help mitigate what is perceived as a serious demographic crisis in european capitals. Those policies have yielded different results. While some countries like France are now experiencing a slow growth rate as a result of those policies, others in the likes of Germany are forced to still deal with an ever declining population. In this paper, I will be analyzing, comparing, and contrasting the policies in both countries.

There is no doubt that the ageing population is a subject which has attracted much attention of Governments and communities in the world. Even in Australia, it is considered as one of the most crucial challenges which will have to confront in the next 25 years ( Hugo, 2014). Population ageing is defined as a change in the age structure of a country toward older ages. This is the repercussion of many elements such as the declining fertility rate, baby boom period and advanced technology in medical and healthcare extending longevity.While a number of studies have been done into proving this trend having several negative effects, it can be argued that there are many beneficial impacts both on national economy and society. This essay aims to look at the positive influences of older population on the workforce, then the Australian Government Budget, and finally the community.

In the United States we are seeing an increased population of older adults aged 65 years and older. The age group that is growing the fastest is the age group 85 years and older in the United States populations. Europe is a country that has more older adults than younger adults in their populations. Europe’s attitude toward older people is very positive; they embrace their older adults

Throughout the world and throughout history, the young have always outnumbered the elderly. Over the next 40 years this will change. The population over 60 will grow by one billion to a total of two billion. For the first time in human history there will be more people over 60 than under 15. One in every five people will be elderly. In 1950 there were twelve working people for every elderly person, today nine working people and in 2050 4 working people. More money will go out and less money will come in. (HelpAge International, 2014) Economies will face a change in terms of growth, savings, debts, investment, consumption, labor markets, pensions and taxation. Social impacts will consist of changes in family composition, living arrangements,

With increasing quality of healthcare, many countries around the world are now experiencing an ageing population. This involves a change in the demographic composition of the elderly and the young in a population. This means that there is a decrease in fertility rates with an increase in the number of elderly people (over 65). Therefore, the average age of the population is increasing. According to WHO, “this population ageing can be seen as a success story for public health policies, but it also challenges society to adapt, in order to maximize the health and functional capacity of older people as well as their social participation and security.”

This demographic trend deflects on the stabilization; decline and fall in the United Sates rates in fertility since the generation of the baby boom are given birth. More importantly this demographic trend speculates on the secular increase in the life expectancy and entry of the large baby boom cohort joining in to the normal projected age of retirement that is between 2010 and 2030. The census bureau expects arise of the share population over 65 after the 21st decade short pause (from 13% presently to 20% by 2050 and 23% in 2100).

Worldwide demographic change has resulted in an amplified elderly population. The United Nations predict a two fold increase to 22% by 2050 in the proportion of people aged 60 years and over. [1] Similarly it is estimated by 2034 a quarter of the UK population will be 65 years and over. [2] This

The senior population continues to grow much faster than it has in any generation in the history of the United States. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (2008), the anticipated growth of the population 60 and over in the U.S. is expected to grow from just under 55 million in the 2010 census to 72 million in the 2020 census. This represents a 13% increase in the aging population in just a 10-year period. To add to this, we are currently experiencing what the National Institute on Aging (2015) characterizes as a dramatic increase in life expectancy. This means that there are more seniors than ever – and more older seniors than

Figure 1, taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015), shows Australia’s demographic trend of an ageing population between 1995 and 2015. It can be noted that the proportion of Australia 's population aged 15-49 years remained fairly stable, however during the same period, the proportion of people aged 55 years and over increased from 11.9% to 15.0% and the proportion of people aged 85 years and over almost doubled from 1.1% of the total population in 1995 to 2% in 2015.

The aging population in the United States is growing rapidly. Based on public health improvement during the 19th century and medical advancement in the 20th century, statistics have shown that today’s aging life expectancy is rising (Gray, 2009). Studies have shown that there will be a rapid rise in health care costs between 2010 and 2030 (Schwartz, 2009). The number of the elderly individuals worldwide is estimated to increase to 135% by 2002 to 2050 (Tilly, 2008). At that point, the population over the age of 65 will increase from 12.7% in 2000 to 20.3% in 2050 and the population age 85 and older will increase from 1.6% in 2000 to 4.8% in 2050 (Tilly, 2008). The population age 85 and older are more likely to need health and long-term care

However, better healthcare and protection from government result in rising age expectancy, which is a double-edged sword as on one hand, people live longer as shown in report (Friedland and Summer, 2005, Fig 1-2) and on the other hand, the proportion of aging population increases if the younger generation are not reproducing enough, and this is exactly the trend now in developed nations. In the

A Worldwide population of 810 million persons aged 60 years and above, representing 11.5 percent of the world’s total population of 7 billion. With Europe being currently with 22 percent of its population aged 60 years and above. Japan has the highest proportion (31.6%) of older persons. The pace of population ageing is progressing faster in the developing countries. Africa, which for instance has the youngest population today, will have 10 percent of its population aged 60 years and above by 2050 (Population and Housing Report 2010).

Europe is known globally as a continent with the most demographically complex population control issues. Previous to 1995 Europe’s European Union(EU) population was approximately 100 million people larger than that of the USA. However it is projected that the USA’s population will be larger than the EU’s population by over 20 million in 2050 (Tarmann,1). Presently, Europe’s problem seems to be that people are emigrating out of Europe. And because of this it reduces the effective reproduction of the country, contributing to the pace of their population decline. Many countries in Europe are trying to alleviate this critical issue, however many of the country’s political parties or governments are against or unresponsive to the idea of pronatalist policies. Pronatalist policies are policies that promote population growth. Because of this, policy makers and politicians look towards replacement migration over pronatalist policies. It is clear that pronatalist policies are less favorable when compared to replacement migration to help stabilize population control in Europe.

The world’s population is ageing rapidly. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world's older adults is estimated to double from about 11% to 22%. In absolute terms, this is an expected increase from 605 million to 2 billion people over the age of 60.