ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes that the common public concept of ageing has been one of an increased requirement to provide health and social service delivery to older people. It discusses that the study of population ageing has burgeoned considerably over the past decade, with the recognition by mainstream economists, sociologists and demographers that this will have significant implications for their area of research. Policy makers in much of Europe have expressed deep concerns regard to the increasing pressure on health and social care costs arising from the demographic ageing of their populations. In the United States too, the fear of ageing baby boomers and their health and social care needs has been a recurrent theme of debate and research. Early work on ageing and the family was clearly focused on the demographic implications of early demographic predications.
