Ageing Population Flashcards
Describe an ageing population.
Also known as ‘greying’. This means the population of older people is increasing , which causes an increase in the decency ratio.
What population of the world was 60+ in 2005?
10%.
What is the cause?
The rise in the median age of the population is caused by increased life expectancy and the decline in fertility. (demographic ageing)
What are the social effects of an ageing population?
- Increased pressure on public services as there is an increased demand on services like hospitals and hospices, so more people are needed to care for the elderly sombre carers and nurses will need training. Secondly more people will act as unpaid carers to their own elderly family members, putting pressure on them socially and finically.
- Unequal distribution of older people for example East Devon. Areas like this may have inadequate facilities for young people such as bars or youth clubs.
- Reduced population growth or decline- the working population may have fewer children because they already have older dependents, leading to a reduction in birth rate.
- Longer working life- the state pension is low because there are so many retired people. Its often not enough to support people in their retirement so some may have to work beyond normal retirement age- to build up personal pensions or savings, or to add their income from their state pension.
What are the economic effects of an ageing population?
- Reduced work force- a smaller proportion of the population is working which may slow economic growth.
- Increased taxes- pensions and services are paid for by taxes. A greater proportion of older people claiming pensions and support could mean higher taxes for the working population.
- Spending- The grey pound. Elderly have savings and pensions to spend on thing such as travel and beauty.
What are the political impacts of an ageing population?
- Elderly issues will be important to voters e.g. changes to national pensions or heating allowances.
- Immigration laws may be relaxed to encourage people of working age to enter the country.
What pressures does an ageing population have on health?
Increasing pressures are being put on health, average health care costs rise with age but this trend could be broken with people becoming healthier. Health costs tend to be compressed into the last years or even months of life (compression of morbidity)
Describe ageing and pensions.
The state pension system transfers resources from the current generation of workers to the current generation of pensioners. As the population has aged the level of resources transfer required has increased. The systems cannot be sustained in the future without significant change.
What are the four suggested changes to make to the state pension system?
- Pensioners become poorer relative to the rest of society
- Taxes and national insurance contributions devoted to pension increase.
- The rate at which individuals save for retirement increases
- The average retirement age increases.
What are the strategies to manage an ageing population?
- Encouraging larger families
- Raising retirement age
- Encouraging the immigration of working-age population
- Increasing health care provision
Explain ‘encouraging larger families’ management strategy.
The swedish government makes having children more manageable by giving both parents 18 months paid leave when they have a child. Encouraging larger families should result in a larger working population when the children grow up, which can provide more taxes for better pensions and services.
Explain ‘Raising retirement’ management strategy.
The working population is made larger, so more people contribute to the state pension fund and to personal pensions for longer. People will also claim the state pension for less time.
Explain ‘Encouraging the immigration of working-age people’ management strategy.
In recent years Japan has increased its number of foreign workers because there aren’t enough working-age Japanese people to fill the jobs available. This increases the working-age population, which helps to support the ageing population by paying taxes.
Explain ‘Increasing health care provision’ management strategy.
Large numbers of older people puts pressure on health care systems. This doesn’t manage the population change but it could help ease the problem of poor health in the elderly.
Discuss the grey pound.
The grey pound is beneficial to companies that specialise in providing goods and services to older people. For example: travel such as cruises, specific travel companies such as SAGA, companies such as home base and B&Q target an older audience and lastly a growth in support services such as meals on wheels, health visits and drivers for hospital visits.
