Essay Comparing United States To China's Aged Population

Comparing United States to China’s Aged Population

Treatment of the aged population vary by country. Some countries are more advanced and have improvements in healthcare, nutrition, technology causing an elderly person to live a more comfortable life, however, in some places the resources are limited making growing old unfortunately a bad experience. For instance, in some societies children care for their parents at home, while, in other societies children put their parents in homes in which they are taken care of. According to the New York Times, “developing countries such as Africa, Asia, and other regions are experiencing the most rapid aging of their populations, and not developed countries such as Europe or North America” (Graham). One

This is referred to as the Empty Nest Syndrome. This tradition is very common in the United States, since in the United States, young adults like to be independent and emphasize attributes of individualism. This concept of individualism has been dated back to the Protestant work ethic. However, according to a newspaper article written in “The Week”, the author mentions a new “Elderly Rights Law” which is a law passed in China which states that an individual should never “neglect or snub elderly people and visit their elderly parents often regardless of how far they live” (Martinez-Carter). This ties with the China’s Confucian tradition which values elders and respect them. However, due to China’s rapid development in industry, many people have been forced to work in urban areas causing the adult children to move far away from their

Before, the world use to an inequality in regard to the health of countries, however, global inequality is decreasing and life expectancy in countries as United States China have increased. (Roser). Furthermore, according to an article in the Fiscal Times, China is starting to “leverage its aging population to sustain growth and will require training programs and learning opportunities to tap into its overlooked older citizens” (Hodin). This means that they are thinking of taking the idea of retirement out. On the contrary, retirement age of Americans is 65 and above and one can have a retirement plan which one can get special benefits from. With an increasing of the aging population there is also an increase of health problems as well. In the United States, “incidence of heart failure increases with age.” This further causes the epidemic of heart failure to grow in future generations. (Vigen). China, on the other hand had the “one-child” policy but that is causing the country to have few children to help support a rapidly aging population. As individuals get older they need more health and long term care, however, since the working-age population has decreased in size it has become more expensive to treat the elder. Chronic health problems have become quite the norm and it led to a population which needed long-term care. Much like the