A issue we've never encountered is mass aging

 A issue we've never encountered is mass aging

Global aging is happening quickly. Nearly 800 million people worldwide, or 10% of the world's population, will be over 65 in 2022. To reach 16% by 2050 and roughly 1 in 4 persons by the end of the century, this is anticipated to rise by 5-6% every 30 years. In the next decades, the broader effects of aging societies will take up more and more of our mental space.

Ageing is the main demographic trend that is quickly becoming worldwide reality. Due to falling fertility, increased longevity, and the influx of huge cohorts into the old population, there is a rapid and accelerated aging process. Over time, the demographic structure has undergone significant change. Over the last century, the average lifespan has more than doubled; this trend is anticipated to continue. Fertility has decreased concurrently in every nation on earth. Fertility rates—measured as the number of births per woman—have fallen to about 1.3 or below in many industrialized nations. A 0.9 fertility rate was recently recorded for South Korea. In under four decades, India's fertility rate has more than halved to 2.0.

Even a catastrophic occurrence like the covid pandemic, which resulted in an estimated 15 million fatalities directly and indirectly and a two-year drop in life expectancy for the period of the pandemic, had only a little impact on population number and growth due to the force of this mega-trend. It's yet unclear if the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic will have a long-term effect on fertility.

To make sure that their social and health systems are ready for this transition, all nations confront significant obstacles. The age distributions started to alter in high-income nations like Germany and Japan, but the sharpest shifts are currently being seen in low- and middle-income nations. Two-thirds of the senior population will reside in low- and medium-income nations by the middle of this century. This will increase each country's financial burden at a time when its resources are already taxed since it occurs at the same time as climate change.

This abrupt change presents both possibilities and difficulties. As societies become older, there is a chance to draw on the expertise of senior citizens who have a variety of functional capacities. What could normally be seen as a burden can be turned into an advantage if done methodically and creatively. Naturally, guaranteeing financial stability, access to healthcare (and associated expenditures), and, perhaps most significantly, preserving the dignity of old people's lives provide the greatest problems.

This problem is likely seen as one for the future by many people in India. Contrarily, with approximately 100 million senior people, India already has the second-largest population of elderly people. That number will increase to 330 million by the end of this century, which is about the same as the current population of the US as a whole. With so much population, difficulties with aging, healthcare, and the stability of our income and pensions are already here.

The 'wicked' issue for India is that, while working to address the crucial issue of giving young people jobs, the nation would also need to take into account raising employer contributions to pensions, extending the retirement age, and offering incentives for saving for retirement and elder care.

The vast differences in the demographic structures of the states further exacerbate the problem. While Bihar (the highest of all states) has a fertility rate of 3.0 and Uttar Pradesh (UP) has a fertility rate of 2.4, several of the states with greater GSDP per capita, like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Kerala, have fertility rates considerably below 2.0. Over the next ten years, the median age in India will increase from the mid-20s to the mid-thirties, although Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will be closer to 30 and 40, respectively.

In addition, women often outlive males by around 3–4 years, which makes the issue of financial security worse.

India, like many other emerging nations, is ill-equipped to handle this complicated demographic change. Defined contribution plans (DC), where tax-advantaged payments are made, have replaced defined benefit pensions (DB), where benefits of income and healthcare are guaranteed. Employers cannot afford DB plans, and DC plans often aren't enough to meet the expense of lifetime increases. The end effect is that there is a family elder care shortfall. Schools may need to shut and hospitals built in certain states when the total number of students attending school declines.

It will be necessary to try a wide variety of options. The first is to extend people's productive lives by progressively extending the retirement age, allowing the elderly to work both full-time and freelance jobs and yet have some level of financial stability. From infancy through old age, healthcare and wellness will need to be enhanced, including avoidance of early pregnancy and the mitigation of lifestyle disorders like diabetes and hypertension. A "balanced nutrition" perspective should replace a "calorie" mindset in order to lengthen "health spans" and reduce the financial burden on families and society as a whole. It will be necessary to raise the maximum contributions that may be made to DC plans in order to make the size of savings last for longer lifespans.

In fact, this issue has never arisen in the history of humanity.

P.S. : In the end, it doesn't matter how old you are. In your years, it's the life," stated Abraham Lincoln.