Global ageing in comparative perspective: a critical discussion

Abstract

PurposeThe aims of this paper are to summarise the rapid expansion in the proportion of the elderly across the globe and to highlight the main factors causing this. Specific areas of the globe will be focused on in more detail before the authors discuss some of the key challenges and consequences of global ageing for global society.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a literature review of major trends and implications of population ageing across the globe.FindingsAs a consequence of the global demographics of ageing, societies are being confronted with profound issues relating to illness and health care, access to housing and economic resources including pension provision. We have witnessed an unprecedented stretching of the human life span. This ageing of the global population is without parallel in human history. If these demographic trends continue to escalate, by 2050 the number of older people globally will exceed the number of young for the first time since formal records began, raising questions of the power of the nation state in the context of global ageing and of the changing nature of the global society that is emerging.Originality/valueThis is an original paper that aims at reviewing the major population trends across the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. The implications of demographic change are grounded in context of global changes that highlight social, economic and political implications of global ageing.