World Will Have 13 “Super-Aged” Nations by 2020

The world now has three nations with high proportions of elderly people – Germany, Italy and Japan. Joining that group before 2030: China, Netherlands, France, Sweden, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, Hong Kong, Korea, the US, the UK, New Zealand and other nations. “The ‘unprecedented pace’ of population ageing would slow annual global economic growth by 0.4 per cent over the next five years and by 0.9 per cent between 2020 and 2025,” suggests a Moody’s forecast report, as reported by Sarah O’Connor of the Financial Times. The anticipation is that an elderly population will impose more costs with health and social services and pay fewer taxes with reduced work hours. Other expectations include conservative trends in society and a need for immigration to provide needed workers. Moody’s recommends policy reforms to minimize the low growth anticipated from aging populations and improve labor-participation rates, increase productivity, streamline migration and encourage financial flows and technological innovation while boosting growth. – YaleGlobal