Veronika Wild

  -Image generated by Microsoft Bing AI Now for some countries which have been very proactive about meeting the challenge of having declining populations. Singapore Singapore has  taken the Japanese recipe to heart. Here’s how it is handling the transition to an older society. It too is raising its retirement age -to 64 in 2026 and to 65 by 2026, to cover the additional financial cost. And why not, if people are living longer, healthier lives and aren’t worn out by years of hard manual labour?   To make that happen, It is spending big on health and wants each person to have a doctor who will monitor their health throughout their life to keep them in top shape.   It is also focusing on training in midlife and encouraging companies to retain workers until age 69, if they want to keep working. It is also doubling the number of community elder care centres and doubling the number of beds in them, to ease the pressure on acute care hospitals and nursing homes. ...

-Image generated by Microsoft Bing AI  [Apologies, too long -as usual, so have split this into two parts. Part (a) looks at countries which have had ageing populations much earlier - notably Germany and Japan, while Part (b) will look at how countries who have more recently entered the realms of negative population growth are preparing for the future when there are more older people than youngsters]. Age Redefined Expressions such as “ Silver   Tsunami” so popular with economists and the press, imply that having a growing number of older people in the population will be a bad thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be so. Indeed, many countries are starting to see that as an asset, rather than a liability. Baby Boomers are notorious for defying established norms. Now, thanks to modern medicine   and research into exercise and nutrition they are doing it again with respect to established notions about ageing. For the most part they are living longer, health...