WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS OF AN AGEING POPULATION?

A population ages for two reasons – 1. Fewer babies are being born / there is a lower birth rate 2. People are living longer / people have a longer life expectancy BECAUSE: Women are having children later as they are working longer at a career. They don’t have time to have a big family before their biological clock stops. Many people prefer to have an affluent lifestyle (money to buy houses, cars etc) than lots of children so they have a smaller family. There is more access to contraception now so people can choose to have less children THE BABY BOOM : 1945 – 1964 after WWII the birth rate was very high. Now the oldest of these babies are approaching retirement age so there will be even more retired people. An ageing population is a problem for two reasons – A smaller percentage of the population is working and paying taxes which go into supporting the elderly. More elderly means more people who require those young enough to work to pay taxes to support them. More elderly also bring benefits – they can share their knowledge and wisdom with younger people and can share in child care responsibilities and community work. THE DEPENDENT POPULATION : are those under 15 and over 65 because they are supported by the working age group of 15 – 65. The more dependents there are the more of each workers tax that has to go to pay to support them. LIFE EXPECTANCY HAS INCREASED BECAUSE: People have access to better health care and more cures to diseases People understand much more about living a healthy lifestyle than before.

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