March 2023

Greenland needs new approach to preserve welfare state amidst aging population: gov

Greenland has launched a new strategy to help navigate the upcoming challenges of maintaining the welfare state amidst an aging population. Besides working on ways to improve the quality of life and services for seniors, the government said a long-term strategy needs to be put in place to ensure the survival of the social safety net. The government of Greenland did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but in a news release, it said the ever-shrinking workforce was...

China’s big dilemma: What to do about an aging nation

China’s population decline, which the Chinese government officially confirmed in January, has led many observers to wonder if the country’s current demographic trends threaten its stability. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s population shrank last year for the first time in 60 years, nine years earlier than government projections had anticipated. The fertility rate (births per woman) fell to 1.0-1.1, well below the official forecast of 1.8. Most notably, the number of births dropped sharply to 9.56 million,...

Thailand. Political parties grapple with funding constraints for pension plans in run-up to general election

“Thailand will be a full-fledged aging society this year, as citizens 60 years old and above will represent 20 per cent of the total population,” said Worawan Plikhamin, deputy secretary-general at the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), a state-run think-tank. Senior citizens will comprise 30 percent of the country’s population in 2037, making the country a super-aging society. The rising number of senior citizens offer both opportunities and challenges to the country. On the business side, there is scope...

Japan births fall to record low as population crisis deepens

The number of births registered in Japan plummeted to another record low last year – the latest worrying statistic in a decades-long decline that the country’s authorities have failed to reverse despite their extensive efforts. The country saw 799,728 births in 2022, the lowest number on record and the first ever dip below 800,000, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday. That number has nearly halved in the past 40 years; by contrast, Japan recorded more...

Portugal. Bringing together students and pensioners

The program, entitled “Abraço de Gerações”, is promoted by the Associação Cozinhas Económicas Rainha Santa Isabel (ACERSI), is based in downtown Coimbra, and is seeking to respond to two problems felt in the city – the difficulty of accessing accommodation for students and the isolation of elderly people -, said Teresa Sousa. The initiative is promoted in partnership with the Associação Académica de Coimbra (AAC) and the Associação de Former Students of Coimbra, as part of a project entitled “Oficina...

February 2023

The rise of elderly workers: The Europeans defying retirement norms and working past the age of 70

While trade unions are mobilising in France to defend retirement at 62, throughout the European Union, men and women are working beyond the age of 65 or even 75. Who are they? The official statistics draw the average picture of a self-employed man aged between 65 and 69, working rather part-time in the health or social sector. But this average situation obviously overlooks the nuances from country to country. In which EU countries do people work beyond the age of 65? Firstly, it’s...

Ireland. Majority expect to have to rely on the State pension when they retire

MOST workers expect to have to rely on the State pension when they retire. Some 57pc of workers say the State pension will be their main source of income. The State pension was cited as the expected main source of income on retirement for nearly six in ten workers with no pension coverage, Central Statistics Office research has found. The Government is planning to bring in an auto-enrolment pension scheme to supplement the State pension for thousands of workers who have no...

Asia’s population is shrinking faster than any other continent’s.

Asia faces a problem: Its population is aging faster than any other continent’s. A growing percentage of people in Japan, South Korea and China are over 65, and those countries’ economies are suffering because of a lack of available workers. Governments are struggling to find the money to support retirees. The problem is pronounced in Japan. I spoke to Motoko Rich, The Times’s Tokyo bureau chief, about what it means when a society ages this quickly. Claire: You’ve reported on the...

69% of Workers Plan to Hold Down a Job in Retirement. For Many of Them, That’s Not a Choice.

Many of us are used to grinding out way through a job for many years because, well, that's sort of what we have to do. But it's also easy to see why the idea of working in retirement is unappealing to a lot of people. After all, you've held down a job your entire life. You deserve to enjoy a stretch of time when work doesn't come into the picture. But unfortunately, a large number of workers today may end up...

Tech Opportunities In Climate Change And An Aging Population

Tech opportunities in areas like 5-G, cloud computing, healthcare, and finance took up the last posting. This one examines opportunities in meeting two huge issues facing the world’s economies: the growing number of older retirees in populations and the big kahuna of climate change. Seldom do all the answers to these or any other problems lie in technological solutions, but tech certainly will have a role to play and a prominent one. The growing proportion of older people in the population...