March 2022

An ageing population means its time to rethink pensions in the Gulf

An ageing population means its time to rethink pensions in the Gulf

Pension reform during much of the 20th century was heavily focused on allowing the elderly to enjoy financial security after their working lives had ended. Western nations, as well as regions such as the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, spent decades building up increasingly comprehensive pension systems that typically provided significant incomes for those enjoying a well-deserved rest after decades of work. Read also German government prepares Aktienrente bill But changes in demography in richer countries is altering assumptions that were once...

¿Cómo ajustan los hogares sus ingresos, ahorros y consumo después de la partida de los hijos?

How Do Households Adjust Their Earnings, Saving, and Consumption After Children Leave?

By Andrew G. Biggs, Anqi Chen & Alicia H. Munnell Whether parents adjust their consumption after their children leave home has important implications for our understanding of retirement income adequacy. Prior studies have found that parents reduce consumption after their children become independent, allowing them to save more for retirement. Other studies, however, have found that savings for retirement does not increase. If households are both consuming less but not saving more after the children leave, where are the resources...

COVID pandemic fuelled 2021 population drop in 73% of U.S. counties

COVID pandemic fueled 2021 population drop in 73% of U.S. counties

The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic was reflected in a natural decrease last year in the population of nearly three-quarters of U.S. counties versus the two previous years, the census bureau said on Thursday. Read also US. Milliman analysis: Competitive pension risk transfer buyout rate hits all-time low in February, at 98.9% More than 73% of U.S. counties experienced natural decrease, or an excess of deaths over births, up from 55.5% in 2020 and 45.5% in 2019, bureau data showed. Read also...

How society aging threatens climate action

People 60 and older are responsible for a large and increasing share of greenhouse gas emissions in wealthy countries, according to a new study. This is due not just to the increasing numbers of people in this age group but to their lifestyles as well, hinting that aging populations may pose a challenge to climate action. Longer lifespans and declining birth rates in wealthy countries mean their populations are getting older. The share of the population aged 65 and older...

People Are Now Living More Years in Good Health

People Are Now Living More Years in Good Health

Older adults may not only be living longer, but better as well, according to a new U.K. study. Researchers found that since the 1990s, British adults age 65 and up have been enjoying more years living independently, free of disability. That's despite the fact that many chronic health conditions have become more common. In fact, disability-free years rose not only among healthy seniors, but those living with conditions like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and vision and hearing problems. Experts called the findings...

Malaysia needs an all-encompassing national pension system

AS Malaysia joins the rest of the world in becoming an ageing society, it has become imperative for the government to address the challenges that increasing life expectancy pose to social security arrangements. Increasing life expectancy brings with it sweeping changes in population needs and capacities. The most evident sign is the strain on the pension system as the number of people requiring protection and support is on the rise. There are growing concerns that many are not prepared for a...

‘Wisdom and respect’: what Peru’s forgotten generation can teach us about life and ageing

Enedina Avilés sits on a rocky ledge surveying the city below. She comes to this spot every evening after spending the day earning a living peeling garlic cloves. “This is her moment of meditation,” says Peruvian photographer Alex Kornhuber. Avilés’s home, a wooden shack with no running water or electricity, is perched on a hillside on the southern outskirts of Lima. She lived in the mountains for most of her life but moved to the city seven years ago after...

February 2022

China releases 5-year plan for elderly care services

China's State Council has released a plan for the development of the country's elderly care services system during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), in its latest step to implement a national strategy to address population aging. The plan specifies major goals and tasks for the five-year period, including expanding the supply of elderly care services, improving the health support mechanism for the elderly, and advancing the innovative and integrated development of service models. It lists nine major indicators, such as...

Retirement in America: Time to rethink and retool

By PWC A range of factors have put intensifying pressures on the US retirement system in recent years, leaving the industry facing a decelerating revenue growth outlook. A number of these challenges — fee pressure, underfunded retirement plans, an aging population — are structural and unlikely to ease. Many retirement players have been unable to outrun even one of these factors: fee pressure. Rising industry-wide fee pressure is placing constraints on the profitability of US retirement firms with average 401(k)...

Can aging population trends tame inflation?

By Larry Berman The Economist, one of my favourite weekly reads (or listens these days with audio features), highlights a recent paper examining the effects of demographic change on saving, Etienne Gagnon, Benjamin Johannsen and David López-Salido of the Federal Reserve Board suggest that aging in America may account for about one percentage point of the drop in interest rates since the 1980s. Other research has suggested it could be as much as three per cent. One thing is fact,...