Preview

Paradigm Shift over Ageing Population

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
874 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Paradigm Shift over Ageing Population
Paradigm Shift over Ageing Population: Government should Change Focus

Throughout the years, the proportion of elderly among the world population has been increasing, while the proportion of children has been decreasing (Why Aging Population Matters, 2007). This fact has brought a new challenge to nations: the ageing population issue. In order to resolve this issue, understanding the reasons why it is a problem is certainly needed, which can be done by delving into the conditions of being old.
Two major problems that occur in the old generations are health and labor issues, with each issue related to the other. As people grow old, it is inevitable that their bodies adopt several health setbacks, resulting in the growing needs of medical services which often cost large amounts of money. Sadly, as time goes by, the other problem comes along. Most elderly become unaware of the present days’ technologies and needs, hence decreasing their chances of employment. As the result, their income rates decrease accordingly, making them unable to cover their own medical fees.
To settle this particular problem, governments have been allocating money obtained from taxes on the young to subsidize the elderly’ medical needs (Glied, S. A., 2008). However, as the number of old people increases, the tax rate can no longer negotiate with the amounts of subsidies needed. Therefore, another solution to the challenge of an ageing population is needed immediately.
Until now, governments are still concentrating on how to provide enough facilities for the elderly and how to keep the inadequate old employees employed (Lee, H. L., 2009). Retraining old workers was mentioned as one of the solutions. However, looking at the ageing population rate, it is predictable that these methods are insufficient to cope with the challenge.
Before people get old, they are young first. Therefore, the increasing number of elderly is actually equivalent to the number of young people previously. To deal



References: Fritz, W. Get into the Habit of Thinking. (2006). Retrieved September 12, 2010 from http://www.intelligent-systems.com.ar/intsyst/thinkin.htm Glied, S. A. (2008, March). Health Care Financing, Efficiency, and Equity. In C. Flood, C. Tuohy, & M. Stabile (Eds.)(2008). Exploring Social Insurance: Can a Dose of Europe Cure Canadian Health Care Finance? Canada: School of Policy Studies Queen’s University. Henkens, K. & Shultz, K. S. (2010). Introduction to the changing nature of retirement: an international perspective. K. Henkens & K. Shultz (Eds.) (2010). International Journal of Manpower. Lee, H.L. (2009). Preparing for an aging population: The Singapore experience. The Journal: Winter 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2010 from http://www.nus.edu.sg/nec/InnoAge/documents/AARPjournalwinter09_PMLee.pdf National Institute of Aging, National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, & U.S. Department of State (2007, March). Why Population Aging Matters: A Global Perpective. In A. C. Iadarola, R. Li & R. M. Li (Eds.)(2007). Schrier, D. Consequences of an Aging Population: Can Existing Levels of Social Services be Sustained? Retrieved September 10, 2010 from http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/DATA/pop/pop/agingpop.pdf Speiser, M. (2009). The Power of Continuous Improvement. Retrieved September 12, 2010 from http://gigaom.com/2009/08/30/the-power-of-continuous-improvement/

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Coping with Methuselah

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Henry J. Aaron is the Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. He has also written many books and articles on aging economics. This creation of this essay is shared with William B. Schwartz, who is a professor of medicine at UCLA. Together these two men have edited this essay from which this information was taken from.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is important to understand how roles and perspectives have changed over time. The alterations can be an effect caused by societal and economical developments. Understanding the evolution of roles and perspectives provides a clearer picture on how aging may affect you in the future. In this report we will focuses on aging population from World War II to present day. I will describe the changing role of older adults, and describes the differences in perspectives on aging in America. I also will explain each cause of the changes in the role and perspectives of the aging population.…

    • 1344 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hca 240 Final

    • 2162 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The current age composition of the United States population consists of an ever growing advanced age population. The baby boomers born around 1900-1960 are becoming the growing percentage of the aging population. The people born around this time period increased the U.S. population ten-fold. Along with the increased population, the life expectancy has dramatically increased. The average life expectancy rate is about 78 years. It is also expected to increase in population almost 1% every year. The aging population makes up 12.9% of the total U.S. population. It is projected that the majority of the population would at least 55-59 within the next 10 to 20 years. In some research studies, the distribution of child dependency and senior dependency would almost be equal to each other.…

    • 2162 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Knickman, J. R., & Snell, E. K. (2002, August). The 2030 Problem: Caring for Aging Baby Boomers. NCBI - Health Services Research, Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464018/.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Novak, M. (2009). Issues in Aging. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 38 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Aging and the Elderly

    • 1979 Words
    • 8 Pages

    As life becomes longer, the oldest segment of the United States population, people over the age of eighty-five years of age is increasing rapidly and is forty times greater than in nineteen hundreds. As the average age of the population…

    • 1979 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Demographic Paper

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Wiener, J. M., & Tilly, J. (2002). Population ageing in the United States of America: implications for public programmes. International Journal of Epidemology, 31(issue 4), 776-781.…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    An aging of population (also known as demographic aging, and population aging) is a summary term for shifts in the age distribution (i.e. age structure) of a population toward older ages. A direct consequence of the ongoing global fertility transition (decline) and of mortality decline at older ages, population aging is expected to be among the most prominent global demographic trends of the 21st century. Population aging is progressing rapidly in many industrialized countries, but those developing countries whose fertility declines began relatively early also are experiencing rapid increases in their proportion of elderly people. This pattern is expected to continue over the next few decades, eventually affecting the entire world. Population aging has many important socio-economic and health consequences, including the increase in the old-age dependency ratio. It presents challenges for public health (concerns over possible bankruptcy of Medicare and related programs) as well as for economic development (shrinking and aging of labor force, possible bankruptcy of social security systems).…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Field of Gerontology

    • 822 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Novak, M. (2009). Issues in aging (2nd edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.…

    • 822 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The aging phenomenon has several combining factors that play a part of the growing population; Age Dynamics: The elevated fertility rate (baby boom) from 1946 to 1964. Decline in Fertility Rate: The decrease of young people reproducing has caused an automatic increase of older people. Longevity increase: Life expectancy has increased 20 years due in part to improvements in healthcare and medical technology "The growing number of older adults increases demands on the public health system and on medical and social services.' ‘Chronic diseases, which affect older adults disproportionately, contribute to disability, diminish quality of life, and increased health and long-term care costs" (CDC, 2003). With the dramatic increase in the statics, the life expectancies has increased and healthier energetic life styles, currently enables people to live 20 to 25% of their lives in robust retirement. In…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Geography 15 markers

    • 497 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For 2 areas of settlement you have studied, describe how the provision of services is different…

    • 497 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wiener, J. M., & Tilly, J. (2002). Population aging in the United States of America: Implications for public programs. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31(4), 776-781.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mechanic, PHD, D. (n.d.). The Changing Elderly Population and The Future Health Care needs . Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3456704/pdf/11524_2006_Article_BF02344459.pdf…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ageism in Healthcare

    • 6741 Words
    • 27 Pages

    Jacobsen, L. A., Kent, M., Lee, M., & Mather, M. (2011, February). Population bulletin: America’s aging population. Population Reference Bureau, 66(1), 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/pdf11/aging-in-america.pdf…

    • 6741 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the growing older population is increasing in the US, the impact of this increase is affecting several different political embattlement related programs for the aged (i.e., Medicaid, Medicare, Disability, welfare, Supplemental Security Income, and The Older Americans Act). Being that people are living longer the cost of healthcare has increased while the housing necessities, economic assistances, and people who contribute to Social Security have condensed.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays