Experts on population ageing converged in Seoul this week to discuss how to make reaching one's "golden years" a happy and sustainable process across the world.
They gathered at the Global Symposium on Ageing 2017. The two-day symposium on October 23-24 was aimed at "Promoting Resilience and Sustainability in an Ageing World".
Organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), it brought together thought leaders in the field of ageing, including policy makers, academics, civil society, the private sector, and representatives of international agencies, to review past developments, current challenges, and future actions.
"Population ageing is no longer a phenomenon of developed countries. The pace of population ageing is progressing most quickly in developing countries. By 2050, around 80 per cent of people aged 60 or older will live in what are now low- or middle-income countries," said Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA.
"Ageing is the outcome of great achievements in health and nutrition, in social and economic development, and it reflects a better quality of life around the globe. It is a triumph of development. We must now turn our focus from merely helping people reach old age to helping them reach a happy old age," she added.
Countries like Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Manoglia, Nepal, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam participated in the symposium and shared their experiences. UNFPA also announced the establishment of its permanent liaison office in Seoul to work on population ageing.
During the two-day symposium, participants reviewed the progress of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging (MIPAA), which was adopted at the Second World Assembly on Ageing by government representatives from all over the globe in 2002.
MIPAA continues to serve as one of the main guiding frameworks for UNFPA's work of stock-taking on global ageing. It recognises ageing as a global trend and relates this to social and economic development and human rights. MIPAA promotes a "society of all ages" and assures the wellbeing of a large and growing number of older persons.
The symposium also debated how population aging might affect social and economic development, and discussed whether government policies regarding education, health, and woman's empowerment are really supporting their ageing population.
One in nine persons across the world is aged 60 or older. This is projected to increase to one in five by 2050.
On the eve of the conference, the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) also issued a 'Policy brief on Ageing in Asia'.
"We live in a world in which globally the population is ageing, and a demographic transition taking place," said Yasuo Fukuda, a former Prime Minister of Japan and Chair of APDA, in his introduction.
"Having never encountered ageing on a global scale before, humanity is still grappling with this issue through a trial and error approach, and despite multitudinous research on the topic, a one-size-fits-all solution has yet to be found," he said.
While sharing the details and findings of the policy brief, Fukuda said that it is necessary to strengthen the gathering of statistics, in particular the census system, and to establish family registration systems in order to identify the paid subscribers and beneficiaries of social security, and to avoid a breakdown in the system resulting from the so-called tragedy of the commons. He also emphasised that there need to promote research and implement policies to stem very low fertility and so avoid too rapid a decline in population.
According to the Policy Brief, issued by APDA, the world's ratio of population ageing will increase from 9.3 per cent to 16.0 per cent from 2020 to 2050. In Asia, the ratio will more than double, from 8.8 per cent to 18.2 per cent. In more developed regions and less developed regions, the ratios will rise from 19.4 per cent to 26.5 per cent and from 7.4 per cent to 14.4 percent respectively.
"Asia's population, however, is estimated to age rapidly thereafter so that by 2050, the ratio in six countries and areas will be 30 percent or over, which is considered the ratio at which point a country can be described as a super-ageing society, 20-30 per cent in 11 countries and areas, 10-20 per cent in 25 countries and areas, and less than 10 per cent in nine countries and areas (and less than 7 per cent in five of these nine)," the brief said.
"The projections show that around 90 per cent of Asian countries will be either ageing or super-ageing societies by 2050. Ageing in Asia is particularly characterised by the rapid pace of ageing in East Asian countries," the report said.
"Whereas it took more than 40 years for the ratio of population ageing to double from 7.0 per cent to 14 per cent in Western countries, it took less than 25 years in countries such as South Korea, Singapore, and Japan."
According to the report, the projections of the ratio of population ageing in 51 countries and areas in Asia in 2020, the ratio is estimated to be 15 per cent or over in five countries and areas (including Japan, South Korea, and Singapore), 10-15 per cent in eight countries and areas (including Thailand, China, and Sri Lanka), 7-10 per cent in seven countries (including North Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia), 5-7 per cent in 11 countries and areas (including India, Iran, and Indonesia), and less than 5.0 per cent in 20 countries and areas (including Cambodia, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Iraq).
- Inter Press Service
