March 2024
06Mar

How caregivers are using smart tech to help aging parents

As my mother reached her 90s, although she was relatively healthy and active, I realized that she was starting to experience some physical limitations and memory issues. And while I didn’t live far away, I knew that I needed to find a way to help her live on her own comfortably and safely despite her increased dependence. More traditional technologies, such as wearable alert systems, could only do so much (especially when she refused to wear them). So I...

March 6, 2024
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05Mar

Aging Korea needs foreign caregivers: report

South Korea should come up with various measures to attract foreign nationals to work here as care workers, as the country faces a shortage in the sector to care for its rapidly aging society, a report by the Bank of Korea argued, Tuesday. The cost of hiring a care worker at a nursing home or other facilities was estimated at 3.7 million won ($2,775) per month as of last year, according to the report titled “Measures to alleviate the care...

March 5, 2024
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01Mar

Singapore faces shrinking population as total fertility rate falls below 1% for first time

Singapore, facing a dwindling population and a manpower shortage, has seen its resident total fertility rate (TFR) drop to an estimated 0.97 per cent in 2023, the first time it has dropped below one per cent in the country’s history. The TFR, which refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years, fell from 1.04 in 2022 and 1.12 in 2021, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Indranee Rajah told Parliament on Wednesday. The...

March 1, 2024
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February 2024
27Feb

Does aging society mean economic slowdown in China?

As China is busy preparing for the annual two sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), some Western media have been enthusiastically hyping that the Chinese economy is collapsing. Is the Chinese economy going to fail? What opportunities have China's growth brought to the world? China Economy from a Global Perspective is a 10-part series analyzing the above questions. The fifth essay focuses on China's population growth. Wang Dan is chief...

February 27, 2024
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20Feb

How South Korea Is Tackling Its Demographic Crisis

Some 24.5% of South Koreans aged 70 and above were still working as of January, local media reported Monday, as officials increasingly look to keep more elderly in the workforce to address a demographic crisis. Elderly employment figures have seen a steady increase since the country’s statistics authority started to collect the data in 2005. Among these workers, half of whom are aged 75 and above, 42.1% are considered “simple laborers” by authorities, referring to workers with jobs that are not specialized and require...

February 20, 2024
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19Feb

New Zealand. Lowest population growth in 80 years

There were 19,071 more births than deaths in 2023, according to data released by Stats NZ today. This is the lowest annual natural increase since 1943, when there were 17,562 more births than deaths. There were 56,955 live births and 37,884 deaths registered in New Zealand in 2023. “2023 had the lowest number of births registered in 20 years,” population insights analyst Rebekah Hennessey said. “The number of deaths in 2023 was slightly lower than in 2022, but higher than in the years...

February 19, 2024
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16Feb

Aging Europe

By Eurostat In this interactive report, Eurostat presents us with the most relevant statistics on the aging population of the European Union, covering aspects such as working life, living conditions, access to health and income. All these statistics are accessible at the regional level and by country in the European Union. Get the report here

February 16, 2024
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16Feb

South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate. Seoul’s mayor thinks he has a solution: a city-sponsored dating event

South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate, at just 0.78 births per woman as of 2022. It’s likely to get even worse, with Statistics Korea, the country’s official statistics bureau, forecasting a rate of just 0.72 for 2023. That would be three times lower than the often-accepted replacement rate of 2.1, the number of births needed to keep a population at a stable level. It’s even worse in Seoul, the nation’s capital, where the fertility rate is just 0.59....

February 16, 2024
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14Feb

China wants to build a ‘silver economy’ for its ageing society – but who will keep it running?

Homes for the elderly are businesses like any other. But when Yan Guizhen established her first care facility at the turn of the millennium, she was more interested in providing a necessary service than maximising profit. Yan, 53, now manages six facilities that employ around 100 carers, tending to more than one thousand beds in China’s eastern Shandong province. But her dream to keep those of the older generation safe and comfortable has run into several snags. With China’s population ageing fast,...

February 14, 2024
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12Feb

The Silver Economy: Unveiling Investment Opportunities in Aging Populations

The global demographic landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. As life expectancies extend and birth rates decline in many parts of the world, the proportion of the elderly population is increasing at an unprecedented rate. This shift has created the “Silver Economy” — a new area of economic growth linked to the needs and activities of aging populations. As the number of older people increases, their needs and preferences will have an increasing impact on shaping our economy and society. For investors,...

February 12, 2024
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