Think Again: Global Aging

Foreign Policy magazine recently published an article on the population aging problem. Some of the points that it makes:

• The problem isn't just in Western Europe and North America, it applies to many other regions (e.g. Iran). Money in the West may help to alleviate the problem, but when such problems exist in developing countries, they're even more difficult to resolve.
• It appears to be a cultural shift, more than a government shift
• The situation in the West may be difficult, but the problem in Asia appears to be larger
• This appears likely to change immigration patterns. e.g. in the U.S., which sources many immigrants from Latin America, immigration may come almost to a halt: "Consider what happened with Puerto Rico, where birth rates have also plunged: Immigration to the mainland United States has all but stopped despite an open border and the lure of a considerably higher standard of living on the continent." i.e. staying home rather than emigrating becomes a more likely option for such people.
• Due to a more sedentary lifestyle and declining fitness, a greater number of impairment is to be expected amongst the next generation of seniors ... and that's not just the case in North America
• There are arguments to suggest that life in an elderly world may not be more peaceful... possibly even the reverse.

You'll have to read the article to get the details. Personally I think that this is one of the larger problems being more or less ignored.

On a related note, I was confused by the statement accompanying this picture in the accompanying photo essay that "Belarus was one of few Eastern European countries not to raise its retirement age after the Cold War -- it is still 55 years for women and 60 for men." Looking at life expectancy by gender would suggest that the average man can expect to live about 4 years after retirement before death compared to 20 for women. That's quite a gap. Why the earlier retirement age for women given their longer life expectancy?