By the year 2050, for the first time in history, the population of those 60 and older will outnumber the population of those aged 15 and younger (Gelineau, 2013). What does this mean for the nation? What does this mean for the world? But, most importantly what does it mean for those that are aging without the needed resources from the countries they live, as the global study issued by the United Nations in 2013 describes (Zaidi, 2013). Due to various technology advancements and the older generations learning to better take care of themselves, the aging population is growing at an exponential rate. The report further documents that with the aging population growing and the younger population shrinking; there is great room for concern on the future of our aging. What are the current processes to assist this population in various countries across the globe? The report created by the UN is the first of its kind and attempts to grapple with the phenomena of global aging.
Gelineau (2013) of the Huffington Post describes the report as a ranking of social and economic well-being of elders in 91 countries with results that warrant further investigation. Due to a lack of international data on the bearing of global aging and yet many questions on the building concern, the results only touch the surface of what aging means to the world. Zaidi (2013) reveals 13 indicators within the report categorized within four domains to cover key facets of older people’s wellbeing including income confidence, health status, employment and education, and supporting environment. This format was developed as global measures to represent key elements within a person’s quality of life.
Zaidi (2013) continues to state due to the lack of internationa...
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...producers hope that this report will generate an interest in further studies and most importantly that countries across the world will begin to recognize the importance of structuring a sound set of policies and practices on behalf of the aging population.
Works Cited
Bennett, J. (2014). Statistical reasoning for everyday life (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Addison Wesley.
Gelineau, K. (2013, October 1). Aging Population: Support For World Elderly Won’t Be There, Report Suggests. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/01/aging-population-support-world-elderly_n_4020858.html
Zaidi, A. (2013). Global Age Watch Index 2013: Purpose, methodology, and results (pp. 1 – 27). London: HelpAge International. Retrieved from http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/reports/global-agewatch-index-2013-insight-report-summary-and-methodology/
Jacobsen, L. A., Kent, M., Lee, M., & Mather, M. (2001). America's aging population. Population Bulletin, 66(1).
To deal with the issue of an aging population, an awareness campaign about the health issues that commonly affect aged people should be run by the government and non-governmental agencies. In addition, awareness should be created among the young to accommodate the elderly; at home as well as at work places...
are forced to live off of. What happens if there is not enough to go
Women over forty are constantly being either ignored or belittled in the media. There are countless women in their twenties and early thirties all over television and the movies. In magazines, the models tend to be much younger. Many are under twenty.
Aging is universal and it is a process that everyone has to go through. The only difference is that everyone goes through this process at their own pace influenced by factors that will be discussed later on in this paper. When we think about factors that have an influence on older adults and how their life may be affected, we must consider the different social institutions while analyzing influences from social factors, cultural factors, and personal values. Abuse to older adults, stereotyping and informal care and technological advancements that affect older adults are the three topics that will be discussed in this reflection. Furthermore, will connect the three topics I have chosen to the knowledge that I have gained from my interaction
Hooyman, N., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Original work published 2005)
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
The existing U.S. population is over 315 million and rising. In the year 2030, 72 million Americans will be 65 or older, a 50 percent change in age demographics since the year 2000. The change is primarily due to the aging baby boomers, who were born at the end of World War II. Americans are living longer than ever befo...
Active ageing does not stop when elderly people retire, as they can remain active through their families, peers and communities. Active ageing aims to allow elderly people to realise and bring awareness to their own psychological, physical and mental well-being. As the goal of active ageing is the autonomy and independence of elderly people (Alexandre, Cordeiro, & Ramos, 2009). Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings about certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisces and reflects, basks and lives on previous accomplishments and begins to finish his life cycle.
Uhlenberg, Peter. 1992. “Population Aging and Social Policy.” Annual Review, Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Many countries globally are faced with unprecedented demographic changes from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility, giving rise to an ageing population. Population ageing is profound and enduring, and has major consequences and implications for all facets of human life. With a larger proportion of older people, one of the major concerns is health care. The health of older persons generally declines with age and some illness are more likely to be associated with older people. One of such illness is dementia. As the life expectancies of the general population have dramatically increased since the turn of the century, more and more people are at risk of developing dementia (National Institute of Aging, 2000).
McConatha, J. T., Schnell, F., Volkwein, K., Riley, L., & Leach, E. (2003). Attitudes toward aging: a comparative analysis of young adults from the United States and Germany. International Journal Of Aging & Human Development, 57(3), 203–215.
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.
There is a growing interest in Ageing for both Sociologists and Social policy researchers, which has been notably stimulated by a new found awareness of the rising age dependency ratio (namely the predicted costs associated with this through pensions and healthcare), changing patterns of consumption and the ‘vertical’ growth of families. Across a large number of societies, there have been many differing responses to the population ageing. These will be discussed later, but it is of note to highlight the importance of these ideas on intergenerational relations being shared across nations.