Aging Economies and Social Problems

Over the last few decades, with developments in healthcare and improved living conditions, the global elderly population has been increasing, leading to a demographic change known as population aging. As societies experience demographic shifts toward older populations, several challenges emerge in areas such as healthcare, pension, social engagement, housing, and economic challenges. Addressing these social problems requires a comprehensive approach involving governments, institutions, individuals, and families. Existing policies and initiatives need to be restructured to focus on promoting active aging, enhancing healthcare systems, ensuring affordable and accessible housing, and developing a structured pension system that involves both younger and older populations. This discussion first shows the present status of population aging and associated socio-economic challenges worldwide. This chapter shows the current policies related to healthcare and pensions for the elderly, with examples from most populated countries like India and China. A lifelong structured pension system and health insurance can fill the gap and solve multidimensional social issues associated with population aging. This chapter summarizes the social issues of the elderly and required policy changes, with experiences from highly populated countries.