Elderly, Geography and the

In the absence of migration, the population of any area will become older when fertility and mortality levels decline. Western industrialized nations have already moved into the phase of pronounced population aging in the face of both fertility declines since the mid 1900s and an increase of almost 30 years in life expectancy during the 20th century. Over the next three decades, the aging of a large post–World War II birth cohort will cause an acceleration of this aging trend. Despite the overwhelming focus on aging in Western societies, the vast majority of the world's older individuals reside in less developed countries outside North America, Europe, and Japan. Rapidly changing political, economic, and social conditions within these areas are likely to result in precipitous shifts ...