Telegraph: World faces ageing population time bomb says UN
The world needs to take urgent action to cope with the impact of a rapidly ageing population, according to a new report, which forecast that the number of people older than 60 would surpass one billion within a decade.
A major study published by the United Nations has warned that the growing numbers of the elderly presented significant challenges to welfare, pension and health care systems in both developing and developed nations.
And it bemoans the fact that skills and knowledge that older people have acquired are going to waste in societies rather than being used to their full.
"We must commit to ending the widespread mismanagement of ageing," said Richard Blewitt, chief executive of HelpAge International, which collaborated on the report, Ageing in the 21st Century.
"We must fully recognise that the vast majority of people will live into old age," he added. "By revolutionising our approach and investing in people as they age we can build stronger, wealthier societies."
Calling the ageing demographic a "megatrend that is transforming economies and societies around the world", the report estimated that one in nine people of the world's population of seven million are over 60.
The size of the elderly population is expected to swell by 200 million within 10 years past the one billion mark and soar to two billion by 2050, it forecast.
The number of centenarians in the world is projected to increase from fewer than 316,600 in 2011 to 3.2 million in 2050.
In Britain there are projected to be half a million centenarians by 2066, with one third of babies born in 2012 expected to celebrate their 100th birthday, according to Government statistics cited. ...
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