China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Policy Development on Ageing in Malaysia
Published in Goh Cheng Soon, Gerard Bodeker, Kishan Kariippanon, Healthy Ageing in Asia, 2022
Tengku Aizan Hamid, Wan Alia Wan Sulaiman, Mohamad Fazdillah Bagat, Sen Tyng Chai
It must be pointed out that old-age poverty is not as straightforward as income poverty due to a few factors. The problem of targeting is not satisfactorily addressed with the adoption of a flat-rate universal pension, considering the many alternative options that are available to us. Solutions to a sustainable pension system must be evaluated as a whole and not from a limited perspective that divides the population into working or non-working groups, nor from a flawed dichotomy of public sector vs. private sector workers. The two key ingredients missing from our social protection system are redistribution (reducing inequalities in income, opportunities and access) and risk pooling (sharing of risks on the principle of solidarity) elements. There is a gross public misunderstanding of what it takes for Malaysia to put in place an equitable and sustainable pension system for older persons without having to choose between the extremities of a welfare state and laissez-faire capitalism. Without underscoring the importance of intergenerational equity and improving public understanding of lifecycle deficits, it is difficult to effect meaningful reforms for a second demographic dividend.
Health, poverty and powerlessness
Published in Nigel Crisp, Turning the World Upside Down Again, 2022
As a result of the high level of disability, the ratio of disabled people dependent on other people to those able to work is about 10% in sub-Saharan Africa and 7% elsewhere.29 In sub-Saharan Africa, a significant proportion of this is due to disability and illness among working-age people. In other parts of the world, where people live longer, dependency due to disability is more often due to age. This has a very big impact on the; economic capability of the region as well as on the health and welfare of its inhabitants. In addition, Africa has a high dependency ratio of those aged under 15 and over 64 to the whole population - this was 78% in 2018, reflecting the very high birth rate — although this will unravel with time and bring a demographic dividend of a far larger working population.30
How Research Funding Can Drive the Commercialization of IK-Based Technologies: The Case of SANBio
Published in David R. Katerere, Wendy Applequist, Oluwaseyi M. Aboyade, Chamunorwa Togo, Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge for the Modern Era, 2019
Ereck Chakauya, Zvikomborero Tangawamira, Sechaba Bareetseng
Africa’s population was almost 1.3 billion in 2017 and is expected to double by 2050 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, 2017). More than 60% of the population is below 25 years of age. It is envisaged that if the continent continues building on the developmental outcomes of better institutions and policies on education, labour productivity, and health, the demographic dividend can account for 11–15% of GDP (Ahmed et al., 2016). However, the future of the continent is largely dependent on how much it embraces science, technology, and innovation (STI) to provide solutions to the fundamental issues of poverty, unemployment, health, food security, and effects of climate change. It has been reported that Africa bears 71% of global burden of diseases (mainly HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria) (Mathers, 2017; Murray et al., 2012) but only 4% of the global healthcare workforce (Eyal et al., 2016). Moreover, poverty in the continent has been rising, with 42.3% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) living on $1.90 or less per day, a principal factor of widespread hunger. Unfortunately, most of these people are caught in the poverty cycle, and the figure can only get worse. Food security is one of the biggest challenges facing the continent, especially with the effects of climate change increasingly becoming a threat (Brown et al., 2007; El Mokhtar et al., 2019).
Consequences of India’s population aging to its healthcare financing and provision
Published in Journal of Medical Economics, 2023
Pragyan Monalisa Sahoo, Himanshu Sekhar Rout, Mihajlo Jakovljevic
This demographic dividend may result in rapid economic development given the relationship between the economic life cycles and this change in the age distribution, which is likely to increase the labor supply, boost saving, and investment practices14,15. However, only having favorable demography is not sufficient. The demographic dividend requires supportive institutions, high-quality education, improved health, and labor market variables to turn the increase in the population of working-age individuals into a useful economic asset16–18. The East Asian miracle was largely credited to the creation of policy environments that allowed them to fully capitalize on their demographic dividends5,19.
In pursuit of the demographic dividend: the return of economic justifications for family planning in Africa
Published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 2022
The demographic dividend is defined by the United Nations Population Fund as, “the temporary economic benefit that a country can earn from a significant increase in the ratio of working working-age adults relative to young dependents that is created by a rapid decline in birth rates” and it is a further elaboration of the demographic transition UNFPA.25 Demographic dividend theory suggests that countries experiencing a demographic transition have the potential to catalyse economic growth and increase standards of living. The demographic dividend concept shifted longstanding debates among economists and demographers about the relationship between population change and economic growth by highlighting age structure. The key feature in demographic dividend theory is a population age structure in which a large and productive working-age population has a low dependency or support ratio (i.e. it does not support large numbers of elderly or young dependents). Countries with comparatively high birth rates (resulting in large numbers of young dependents or high dependence ratios) face barriers to development because earnings are spent on dependents rather than saved or invested.26 In order to promote economic development, governments must meet two preconditions. First, birth rates must decrease to achieve the demographic transition, which produces a more optimal national age structure with a lower youth dependency ratio and greater potential for earnings to be saved or invested. Second, in the context of an advantageous national age structure, governments must increase employment of their working age population. In demographic dividend theory, this productivity can be achieved with a mix of economic and social policies. There is only a brief “window of opportunity” in the middle of the demographic transition to achieve the dividend when the youth dependency ratio is low.25 If this window is missed, the large working-age population will age and dependency ratios will increase again to support this large elderly population. A second dividend is possible as life expectancy increases and working-age individuals increase savings to support themselves during retirement (when they might previously have been dependent on working-age family members).27