A few extracts from it:
A new report by the US Census Bureau called An Aging World: 2008, shows that within 10 years older people will outnumber children for the first time. It forecasts that over the next 30 years the number of over-65s is expected to almost double, from 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion – a leap from 7% of the world's population to 14%. Already, the number of people in the world 65 and over is increasing at an average of 870,000 each month.
This is its ninth report drawing together data from around the globe since the Census Bureau first focused on the trend in 1987.
Its latest projections warn governments and international bodies the tipping point will present widespread challenges at every level of human organisation, starting with the structure of the family, which will be transformed as people live longer. That will in turn bring new burdens on carers and social services providers, while patterns of work and retirement will similarly have huge implications for health services and pensions systems.
One way of measurement is the older dependency ratio, or ODR, which acts as an indicator of the balance between working-age people and the older population that must be supported by them. The ODR is the number of people aged 65 and over for every 100 people aged 20 to 64. It varies widely, from just six in Kenya and seven in Bangladesh, to 33 in Italy and also Japan. The UK has an ODR of 26, and the US has 21.
Life expectancy after retirement has already reached 21 years for French men and 26 years for French women.
Church: get ready for the elderly!
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