ABSTRACT
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 117 Ageing and work................................................................................................ 118 Ageing and caring ..............................................................................................120 Ageing and needs for health and social care.................................................121 The pension issue ...............................................................................................122 Financial versus economic perspectives .........................................................124 Concluding comments .......................................................................................125 References.............................................................................................................126
Prediction of dire consequences of population ageing for the economies of Western countries is common [1], despite long-standing evidence that changes are likely to be gradual and the effect complex [2-4]. The range of concerns includes an increasing dependency ratio (that is, a higher proportion of the population that is not engaged in paid work), a shortage of workers for a wide range of jobs, higher costs for pensions and other income transfers, a shortage of people to provide paid and unpaid caring, and higher costs for health and social care. Whilst it is true that the changing population structure will have important economic impacts, there is reason to believe that the changes can be accommodated without the more serious problems cited.
