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The Decline Of The Twentieth Century

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1. Introduction
One of the major medical achievements of the twentieth century was the dramatic increase in the average global life expectancy. In 1950, the global median age was 23.6 years; by the year 2000, it rose to 26.4 – a gain of three years. The United Nations has projected that by the year 2050, the median age will jump to 37 years – a ten-year gain (Kochhar, 2014). People are living longer. At the same time, people are having fewer children. The consequence will be a situation without precedent: by the year 2020, there will be more of people over 65 years of age than children. World Health Organization (WHO) and many of the developed as well as developing nations are raising questions such as ¬ Will longer lives result in longer periods of good health, longer periods of productive careers and social engagements, or will old age mean prolonged illness, disability, and dependency on family and the State. How will the healthcare and social costs be borne by high-income and low-income nations? Managing the demographic forces will require creation of institutions and infrastructures that may seem costly; waiting could be costlier (Dobrianskt, Suzman and Beard 2011). The first part of the paper describes the projected changes in the population and the attitudes towards aging and coping with aging-related issues. An aging population, without appropriate policies, can become an economic and social burden in many of the European countries. The second section describes some

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