Consequences of Aging Population

7 Key excerpts on "Consequences of Aging Population"

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  eBook - ePub

  Geographies of Ageing

  Social Processes and the Spatial Unevenness of Population Ageing

  • Amanda Davies, Amity James(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In this chapter, we investigate how consumption patterns shift as populations get older. We consider consumption trends over the lifecycle and the implications of an ageing society for contemporary consumption-production balances, and in turn the outcomes for the natural environment. In the second part of this chapter, we narrow the discussion to consider the environmental implications of retirement amenity migration. We selected retirement amenity migration as a focus for our discussion for two reasons. First, retirement amenity migration is a considerable driver of spatial unevenness in ageing, operating at an international, national and intra-county scale. Second, it has recently been suggested that amenity migration has detrimental social, economic, cultural and environmental implications for the destination locations. Issues that have been associated with amenity migration include displacement of local cultures, increases in property prices and costs of living and an ‘unsustainable’ increase in the use of natural resources. Through a case study of retirement amenity migration in Western Australia’s northern coastal region, we consider the environmental implications of ageing populations and reveal the complexities involved in assessing this. We conclude this chapter by considering how the spatially uneven nature of ageing will influence environmental outcomes.

  10.2 Consumption, Ageing and the Environment

  Do older populations consume less or more than the working age population? Do consumption patterns shift as people age – do they consume more of one type of good or service and less of another? If consumption does change as people get older, then what are the implications of an ageing population? We know already that the environmental impacts of households vary with the average age of the householders (Browning and Crossley, 2001, Dalton et al., 2008, Schwerdt, 2005, O’Neill and Chen, 2002). However, few studies have explicitly looked at the older population and potential environmental implications of the growth of this age group on overall consumption patterns (see, for example, Luhrmann, 2008). In this section, we review literature that links age and consumption trends and consider the potential environmental implications of an ageing population.

  The link between demographic factors and consumption has been extensively investigated by demographic-economic modellers (see, for example, Evans and Baxter, 1980). In regards to age, it is popularly thought that changes in net consumption correlate with different life phases. This relationship is readily observable in younger populations, as young people enter into full-time employment for the first time. For this age group, aggregated trends show an increase in consumption which correlates not only with their increased income but also with their changed role in society (particularly in regard to child rearing responsibilities). Contrastingly, older populations often show a decrease in consumption patterns as they enter into retirement (Hurd and Rohwedder, 2003, Hurst, 2006, Szreter, 1993).

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  Global Turning Points

  The Challenges for Business and Society in the 21st Century

  • Mauro F. Guillén, Emilio Ontiveros(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  In particular, both demography and climate change are characterized by having a strong momentum, meaning that policies designed to address them must adopt a long-term perspective of 30 or more years. Another set of implications of aging refers to the world of work and employment. As the population ages and pressures to stay in the labor force mount, jobs themselves will need to be rede fi ned and redesigned so that people in their seventies and even eighties may fi nd work. Labor market regulations, shop-fl oor organization, and training programs will need to be overhauled. Both policymakers and business managers will have to reexamine the way in which they think about work and about workers. Companies that learn how to incorporate older people as employees could gain a competitive edge in the marketplace, although the existing evidence for such an effect is not fully convincing (Taylor 2008 ). Another potential trend is that old people excluded from the workforce may pursue entrepreneurship, leveraging their experience and their savings. The social, cultural, political, and geopolitical consequences Large demographic swings also bring about social and political change. As population ages, family structures are transformed. The prevalence of childless households, and of families with more grandparents than grandchildren, has increased rapidly in various parts of the world. Older people behave differently, both socially and politically, although it is often hard to predict exactly what the differences are. People in the older age brackets tend to be more interested in politics and to vote more frequently (Lloyd-Sherlock 2010 ). In many rich countries, they tend to support conservative or right-wing policies to a greater extent. Immigra-tion and urbanization, however, tend to have the opposite effect, thus making it hard to predict the net outcome of major demographic trends.

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  Geographical Gerontology

  Perspectives, Concepts, Approaches

  • Mark W. Skinner, Gavin J. Andrews, Malcolm P. Cutchin, Mark W. Skinner, Gavin J. Andrews, Malcolm P. Cutchin(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Part II

  Geographical perspectives on ageing

  Passage contains an image

  3   Health geographies of ageing

  Janine L. Wiles

  Introduction

  Ageing shapes, and is shaped by, geographies of health. Health geographies of ageing have moved from a biomedical emphasis on health as the absence of disease to embrace more holistic socio-ecological understandings of ageing and health in social, physical and symbolic contexts. Health geographers examine the relationship between people and their physical, social and symbolic environments. They focus on the distribution of and engagement with health, illness and a wide variety of resources for health, from the most intimate level of the body through to regional and global scales.

  Just as health geography is a substantive sub-discipline of social geography, health geographies of ageing are a substantive sub-theme of the geography of ageing; geography is a crucial element of the ageing process. In this chapter, I explore health geographies of ageing as a substantive research tradition, from early concerns about the health trends of older populations to contemporary concerns for how space and place impact older people’s health and health care and how older people co-experience their health and place. I address three geographical areas of spatial, relational and critical health geographies of ageing. Throughout, three key themes that define health geographies of ageing are incorporated. These themes include inequities in health geographies of ageing, the health aspects of ageing in place and attachment to place and landscapes of care, including the provision of health care and other forms of support and service for ageing adults.

  Spatial science geographies of ageing and health

  Most spatial science approaches to ageing and health geography focus on measuring and understanding the implications of the changing distribution of ageing populations at global, regional and urban levels (Cook and Halsall, 2011; Davies and James, 2011; Moore and Rosenberg, 2001). Researchers show how trends in disease, technology and social conditions shape population ageing at these different spatial scales (Davies and James, 2011; McCracken and Phillips, 2005). They investigate patterns and especially inequalities in distributions of older people and in health outcomes and quality of life in old age (Warnes, 1999). Such information is useful in being able to indicate likely demand for a range of services and supports associated with old age and to plan for future needs ( Joseph and Cloutier, 1990; Rosenberg, 2014).

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  Human Geography

  People, Place, and Culture

  • Erin H. Fouberg, Alexander B. Nash, Alexander B. Murphy, Harm J. de Blij(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  What is different, according to Rolf KEY QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER 4 1. How do we think about populations and how is this “geographical”? 2. Why do populations grow or decline in particular places? 3. How does the geography of health influence population dynamics? 4. How do governments affect population change? Pendall of the Urban Institute, is that Millennials are choosing to stay in urban centres. Rather than “settling down” into suburban life, they are embracing the independence and diversity offered by cities on a long-term basis. Of course, Millennials—as a generation—are still relatively young. However, due to the sheer size of this population, geog- raphers, demographers, marketers, and policy-makers are in- creasingly interested in studying them, counting them, and doc- umenting the broad trends associated with them over time. These are some of the concepts we consider when we study population geography. In this chapter, we discuss where people live and why they live where they do. We examine the rising world population and contrast it with the aging population in particular regions and countries. Finally, we consider the ramifi- cations of population change, and we question how govern- ments affect population change. 4.1 How Do We Think about Populations and How Is This “Geographical”? As geographers, we are intensely curious about where people live and why they live where they do. We need to ask questions about how many and what sorts of people inhabit different parts of the world. Where people are born and where they live affect their life chances, who they might meet and get to know, and how they understand who they are and what they might become. Geographers study population to see what patterns might be emerging, or not emerging, in order to understand the meanings that lie behind the presence or absence of areal pat- terns.

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  Addressing the Challenges of Population Ageing in Asia and the Pacific

  Implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing

  • United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • United Nations Publications

    (Publisher)

  29 ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF POPULATION AGEING IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MADRID INTERNATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION ON AGEING CHAPTER TWO Population ageing: Implications for sustainable development Sitting on a sidewalk watching the world go by. Shutterstock.com / Denis Rozan 30 ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF POPULATION AGEING IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MADRID INTERNATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION ON AGEING impOrtant messages fOr the regiOn universal and equal access tO quality health care must be a priOrity. Governments have a responsibility to create a supportive environment that enables health care and well-being, including disease prevention, into old age. sOcial prOtectiOn is imperative tO prOvide incOme security during Old age. Income inequalities are exacerbated in old age. Rapid population ageing combined with the lack of adequate social security or social programmes will likely increase poverty among older persons. wOmen are mOre vulnerable tO pOverty in their Old age. Inequalities and discrimination throughout the life course linked to gender, geographic location and social strata poorly prepare people for appropriate well-being in their old age and may even hit hardest at that time of life. Women are less likely than men to have adequate pension benefits or control over assets, such as land, in their old age—yet they are also likely to outlive their spouse. Special social protection measures are required to redress the feminization of poverty, in particular among older women. 2.1 Population ageing and the sustainable development goals T he rapidly changing age structure of populations in the region, from a young to an older one, is both a result of successful development as well as a challenge to the future success in achieving sustainable development.

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  World Population Ageing 2015

  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • United Nations Publications

    (Publisher)

  United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ǀ Population Division 41 III. Demographic drivers of population ageing The size and age composition of a population are determined jointly by three demographic processes: fertility, mortality and migration. Fertility levels and trends determine the size of each birth cohort; while mortality levels and trends determine what proportion of those cohorts eventually survive to old age. Age patterns of immigration and emigration also influence the age distribution of the population, although to a lesser extent than fertility and mortality in most countries. This chapter describes the relationships between the three main demographic processes and population ageing, drawing primarily upon United Nations population estimates and projections from World Population Prospects: the 2015 Revision . A. F ERTILITY AND MORTALITY AS DETERMINANTS OF TRENDS IN THE NUMBERS OF OLDER PERSONS The present growth rate of the population of older persons is a function of the levels of fertility prevailing some 60 years ago when today’s new cohorts of older persons were born, together with the likelihood that members of those birth cohorts survived to older ages. Figure III.1 shows the growth rate of the population aged 60 or over in 2010-2015 versus the total fertility rate (expressed as the average number of children per woman) 60 years earlier, in 1950-1955, for countries or areas with at least 500,000 residents aged 60 years or older in 2015. 12 In general, countries that had high fertility 60 years ago saw faster growth in the number of older persons during 2010-2015. In the Philippines, for example, the total fertility rate was 7.4 children per woman in 1950-1955, and today, the number of older people (aged 60 years or over) is growing rapidly, at an average 3.6 per cent per year in 2010-2015.

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  Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging

  • John Piggott, Alan Woodland(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • North Holland

    (Publisher)

  factors as assimilation to less healthy habits and diets. Finally, migration itself may cause a negative impact on health. Negative selection on health for older return migrants is also possible. Finally, there is evidence from welfare states such as the United Kingdom and Germany suggesting that migrants do not disproportionally use more hospital and general practitioner services. The net effect depends on the scale of aging migrants in the receiv-ing countries, the magnitude of later-life migration and return migration, and migrant selection on health status. This in turn has important implications for healthcare and migration policies. 6. CONCLUSIONS The demographic shift to low fertility and low mortality and implied population aging represents one of the most important challenges in modern times. In this chapter, we have discussed how the interaction between international migration and population aging could affect labor markets, the political economy, as well as fiscal and healthcare systems in order to explain implications for future immigration policy and public budgets. Demographic transitions currently shape migration patterns and will likely continue to influence the nature of migration in the future. A population’s demographic struc-ture is a prominent migration determinant since younger cohorts are generally more mobile. Moreover, generational crowding in sending countries acts as a push factor via its direct impact on migration probability and its indirect effects via labor markets. In general, population aging in many migrant-sending countries is likely to lead to a fall in the average migration rate, given that older workers are generally less likely to move. However, migration of the elderly, including return migration after retirement, may gain more importance. Moreover, the migration of health specialists and eldercare workers may increase due to the increasing share of the old-age population in many countries.

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