The graying of Asia
Focus of an ADB report
By Jon Fernquest 
A newly released research report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) entitled
Aging in Asia: Trends,
Impacts and Responses
takes a detailed look at how Asia will age over the next
few decades and the challenges Asia will face dealing with this trend.Asia is poised to become the region with oldest population in the world.
By 2050 Asia's share of the global elderly is projected to rise to 62%.
In 1950 it was only 44%.
This demographic shift is expected to be most advanced in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
In Japan two out of five people (40%) are expected to be over 65 years old by 2050.
A declining labour force will be the result.
Ways to overcome a declining labour force include eliminating mandatory retirement ages, which at 60 and sometimes as low as 55, are lower than western countries. In the US mandatory retirement comes at age 65.
Removing barriers to entry and advancement by women in the workforce would also help.
Boosting investment in education and upgrading workers’ skill levels throughout their work life is also important.
At a more practical business level, more elderly people in affluent countries such as Japan and South Korea in the not so distant future means more elderly tourists and retirees in Thailand, new business opportunities.
Population pyramids
Population pyramids show the distribution of
population in a country in an easy to understand way.As the pyramid rises age increases.
Men are on the left, women on the right.
This means when a population pyramid gets fatter on top (big base and small top) like Indonesia (see diagram on right) or most African states, this means that there are many more young people than old people.
A population pyramid with a fat bottom (small base and a big top) like Japan (see diagram above on right) means that the country has many more older people than young people.
graying of a population - when
a whole population is getting older (population pyramid getting fatter
on top)
Asian Development Bank (ADB) - a regional development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance (See Wikipedia)
age - grow older
poised to Y - Y is about to happen shortly
elderly - older people, over 65
projected to - predicted to, what experts think will happen in the future
a demographic shift - a change in the kind of people in a population (more older people or more women than men, for example)
labour force - all the workers in a country
mandatory - required, must do
eliminating mandatory retirement ages - ending the requirement that people must end their jobs at a certain age
barriers to entry and advancement - things that make it difficult to enter a profession or kind of work and then get promoted to higher positions
upgrade - improve
upgrade workers' skill levels - improve the skills of workers (so they can get better jobs)
affluent - wealthy, rich
population pyramids - a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population that has the shape of a pyramid (See Wikipedia and two pyramids above in this article)
Asian Development Bank (ADB) - a regional development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance (See Wikipedia)
age - grow older
poised to Y - Y is about to happen shortly
elderly - older people, over 65
projected to - predicted to, what experts think will happen in the future
a demographic shift - a change in the kind of people in a population (more older people or more women than men, for example)
labour force - all the workers in a country
mandatory - required, must do
eliminating mandatory retirement ages - ending the requirement that people must end their jobs at a certain age
barriers to entry and advancement - things that make it difficult to enter a profession or kind of work and then get promoted to higher positions
upgrade - improve
upgrade workers' skill levels - improve the skills of workers (so they can get better jobs)
affluent - wealthy, rich
population pyramids - a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population that has the shape of a pyramid (See Wikipedia and two pyramids above in this article)
