Preparing For An Aging World
Senior citizens will have growing influence over their country’s overall economic might, as they will be working later in life and represent an increasing share of consumer discretionary power.
Longevity will put new pressures on the economy, including rising costs of healthcare, insurance and a greater burden of age-related diseases.
But longevity will also spark new models of wealth management, life insurance, and consumer goods focused on the elderly.
Aging societies are a worldwide phenomenon driven by several long-term demographic and lifestyle trends. Breakthroughs in healthcare, sanitation and nutrition; mass urbanization; and the introduction of social security systems to supplement old-age income have all helped elongate the human lifespan.
Today, for instance, there are more centenarians, or people living above the age of 100, than at any point in history. In Japan alone, there are nearly 70,000, up from just 153 in 1963.2 And globally, average life expectancy is now 72, up from 67 in 2000.3
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