Ageing Population Health Health Ageing Population OUTLINE What

Ageing Population Health

Health: Ageing Population OUTLINE • • • What is an ageing population? Implications of an ageing population. Geographical distribution. Resolving ageing population issues. Conclusions

Health: Ageing Population WHAT IS AN AGEING POPULATION? • Average of population is increasing: • Increase in proportion of elderly people. • Decrease in proportion of under 16 s. • Number of over 65 s began to outnumber under 16 s in 2007. • Proportion of over 65 s expected to rise to 23% by 2033, compared to 16% in 2008. • Many MEDCs are facing an ageing population imbalance, in comparison to many LEDCs, where a youthful population is more likely.

Health: Ageing Population WHAT IS AN AGEING POPULATION? • Can be caused by: • Breakthroughs in healthcare = increased life expectancy. • People choosing to have smaller families. • Falling birth rates: • Later marriages. • Better education about contraceptives. • Women choosing to pursue careers before having children.

Health: Ageing Population IMPLICATIONS OF AN AGEING POPULATION? • Pressure on healthcare services. • Decreasing numbers of economically active people in the population. • Retired people continue to pay taxes. • Importance of “grey vote” in politics. • Increase in tourism amongst older people. • Change in retirement age – more people working for longer.

Health: Ageing Population IMPLICATIONS OF AN AGEING POPULATION? • Increased employment in elderly people. • More support services needed. • More suitable housing needed – retirement homes, sheltered accommodation etc. • Increasing poverty in older population. • People stay healthier for longer. • Changes in pension legislation. • Potential for slower economic growth long-term.

Health: Ageing Population ACTIVITY 1 IMPLICATIONS OF AN AGEING POPULATION Understand what an ageing population means for its country

Health: Ageing Population GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION • UK’s age distributions are not the same across the country. • Some areas are popular retirement locations. • Ageing population issues may not necessarily be felt in all areas of the country.

Health: Ageing Population GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION http: //www. neighbourhood. statistics. gov. uk/HTMLDocs/dvc 235/all. html? mode=clean#6/53. 99485396562768 /-1. 6259765625/Population aged State Pension age and over/2015/0. 66/5/Oranges/Equal Intervals/Details/Across years

Health: Ageing Population ACTIVITY 2 AREA CASE STUDIES Understand the differences in population in different areas of the UK Understand how to use and interpret statistics

Health: Ageing Population RESOLVING POPULATION ISSUES • Pro-natalist approach (as adopted in France): • Monetary incentives for mothers to stay off work for one year following the birth of their third child. • Subsidised daycare for children under 3 years old and full time school places for over threes. • Lower rates of income tax dependent on the number of children in a family – e. g. the more children, the lower the rate of tax. • Three years paid parental leave to be used by either parent. • Train fare reductions for large families.

Health: Ageing Population RESOLVING POPULATION ISSUES • The UN suggest “replacement migration” as a solution for countries like France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and UK. • Changing the retirement age has been suggested • i. e. if people work longer they will continue to contribute to the economy and to the country’s productivity for longer.

Health: Ageing Population ACTIVITY 3 SOLVING THE AGEING POPULATION Encourage students to consider different methods that could be adopted to resolve the issues caused by an ageing population

Health: Ageing Population RESOLVING POPULATION ISSUES • Positives and negatives of raising the retirement age: • Positives: • Higher tax revenue. • Increased flexibility – people who are forced to retire from professions with a fixed retirement age would be able to continue working longer. • Negatives: • Difficulties in continuing work in manual positions. • Difficulties in finding work in later life. • Does not resolve issues in the short term, particularly if the age is raised gradually.

Health: Ageing Population ACTIVITY 4 RAISING THE RETIREMENT AGE Allow students to view differing sides of the debate to draw their own conclusions Encourage students to look at bias in newspaper/media sources

Health: Ageing Population CONCLUSIONS • Ageing population has implications to healthcare services, economy, politics, support services, legislation • Approaches to resolving ageing population includes monetary incentives, subsidised day care, legislation which addresses larger families, retirement age