Aging and pension shortfalls: global time bombs
This program is about the challenging issue of pensions and retirement age in the world.
Declining birth rates are good for the planet, but bad for countries with ageing populations. Stats are indicative of record low birth rates in most countries. The fertility rate for women has dropped to below two children in their childbearing age.
This is the result of several precedents; finance can be regarded as the main factor. With the rising prices, people suffer more from the feeling of lack of security. When still young, they are so engaged in their businesses that they would prefer to have children when they are financially secured, when they are not young anymore.
Social changes play a role too. There is a significant increase in the levels of education and employment of women. This means falling teen pregnancy rates.
Also, the number of women who remain childless has increased. In the UK, for instance,one in 10 of those born in 1946 were childless. In only 25 years, the rate doubled; one in five of British women born in 1970 have no children. It is likely the positions and posts at the offices will remain unfilled, with a growing number of pensioners for whom there are not enough resources for benefits.
Studies show over two billion people will be over 60 years old by 2050, twice more than the same age in 2017. There is a serious doubt over countries ability to manage the fiscal and debt risks.
The World Economic Forum conducted a research in 2015 in eight major economies, namely Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Japan, India, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study showed there was a gap of over 70-trillion-dollars in retirement savings, only in these eight countries.
But worse than the gap is the breathtaking pace of the growth of the gap: the deficit is growing by 28-billion-dollars on a daily basis. With the same growth rate, the deficit will reach 400-trillion-dollars by 2050.
The shifting demographics will be further more complicated. One of the primary problems continues to be the increase in the relative number of retirees and the decrease in the relative number of workers. There is also concern that the market has been overestimated, and it wont return the required amount into the pensions systems and will eventually cause serious funding problems.
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