March 2024
21Mar

Global fertility rates to plunge in decades ahead, new report says

A new study projects that global fertility rates, which have been declining in all countries since 1950, will continue to plummet through the end of the century, resulting in a profound demographic shift. The fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime. Globally, that number has gone from 4.84 in 1950 to 2.23 in 2021 and will continue to drop to 1.59 by 2100, according to the new analysis, which was based on the Global Burden...

March 21, 2024
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21Mar

Africa Is Aging. Will It Become A Real Population Bomb?

Africa is the most youthful continent, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under age 30. With high fertility rates and objections to birth control, the youth population will continue to grow. Investing in young people is important for the continent’s transformation, but Africa also needs to prepare for a growing older population that will present new issues in the decades ahead. By the end of this century, Africa will be home to almost 40% of the world’s population, including a 15-fold growth in older adults, from...

March 21, 2024
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19Mar

Tutoring the Elderly Is Growing Fast in China

China's rapidly aging population is fueling a promising and fast-growing market for companies providing recreational classes and activities for the elderly middle class, from yoga to African drumming and smartphone photography. The growth potential of the industry contrasts sharply with the decline of the after-school private tutoring sector following a government crackdown in 2021 aimed at boosting record low birth rates by lowering education costs. "Education industries are transitioning to the silver economy," said Qiu Peilin, the Beijing head of Mama...

March 19, 2024
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14Mar

East Asian societies have the world’s lowest birth rates—and are learning that ‘throwing a bit of money’ at the problem isn’t solving anything

Governments across Asia—in Singapore and Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul—are facing a crisis: plummeting birth rates. For several decades now, people in East Asian economies have had fewer and fewer children. Last year, South Korea beat its own record for having the world’s lowest birth rate, reporting 0.72 births per woman for 2023, down from 0.78 in 2022. Singapore reported 0.97 births per woman, the first time the rate has fallen below one. Japan has one of the world’s oldest populations, with a median age of 49.5. Hong Kong, Taiwan,...

March 14, 2024
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13Mar

Ageing and the climate crisis

It’s no secret that the population is getting older. According to the World Health Organisation, between 2020 and 2050 the global number of people aged 60 and over will rise from 1 billion to 2.1 billion. Many wealthier countries already have disproportionately weighty older populations: where I live in Wales, over-60s are predicted to make up around 30% of the population by 2026. Now the rest of the world is catching up: by 2050, two thirds of over-60s worldwide will live in what...

March 13, 2024
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11Mar

Thailand raises alarm on aging population, declining birth rates

Thailand officials engaged in discussions last week to exchange opinions, seek solutions, and address the challenges of the country's transitioning into an aging society and the younger generation's reluctance to have children. Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Social Development and Human Security, chaired the workshop on March 7 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. The minister highlighted the demographic structure issues, including the declining birth rate and the increasing average lifespan. It is projected that by 2037, the proportion of children...

March 11, 2024
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08Mar

Aging population to be major driver of future climate-related deaths

Climate change poses profound public health threats to people of all ages. But as the climate changes, the world is facing another public health challenge: aging. The proportion of the world’s population 65 and older is projected to rise from 9% at present to 16% in 2050. As the earth’s temperature becomes more extreme, population aging is expected to substantially amplify future heat- and cold-related deaths, a new study from the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) shows. According to the study, published...

March 8, 2024
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06Mar

U.S. Centenarians Projected To Quadruple By 2054—Will You Be Prepared?

In 30 years. the number of people reaching age 100 in the U.S. is projected to quadruple, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center. The center projects that by 2054, the U.S. will be the home of 422,000 centenarians, up from 101,000 in 2024. And the percentage of the total population that is age 100 or older will increase from 0.03% today to 0.1% in 2054. The projected increase in super-agers is one sign of the increased health and...

March 6, 2024
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06Mar

How caregivers are using smart tech to help aging parents

As my mother reached her 90s, although she was relatively healthy and active, I realized that she was starting to experience some physical limitations and memory issues. And while I didn’t live far away, I knew that I needed to find a way to help her live on her own comfortably and safely despite her increased dependence. More traditional technologies, such as wearable alert systems, could only do so much (especially when she refused to wear them). So I...

March 6, 2024
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05Mar

Aging Korea needs foreign caregivers: report

South Korea should come up with various measures to attract foreign nationals to work here as care workers, as the country faces a shortage in the sector to care for its rapidly aging society, a report by the Bank of Korea argued, Tuesday. The cost of hiring a care worker at a nursing home or other facilities was estimated at 3.7 million won ($2,775) per month as of last year, according to the report titled “Measures to alleviate the care...

March 5, 2024
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