Chapter 57: Economics of Aging

Agneta Kruse

Economics of aging Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon. The demographic transition from a state with high fertility and mortality rates to a state with low fertility, low mortality, and increased longevity has changed the well-known population pyramid into what looks more like a rectangle or a skyscraper. This means fewer children and more old-aged people in relation to those of working age. Aging started in the industrialized world and has thus gone farther in these countries than in developing countries, where it started later. The transition is far from complete in the industrialized world, and aging is forecast to go on during the entire period of prognosis, up to the year 2050. Population aging has caused anxieties about the economic effects of aging: the possibilities of supporting an increasing number of older persons with a shrinking workforce. This chapter focuses on the economics of aging in the industrialized world. ...

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