Demographers compare what is happening to the U.S. population to an upside-down pear a huge elderly population tottering on a working-age group too small to support it. Many other nations both industrialised and Third World are similarly positioned, experts report.
Such prospects have many demographers and world leaders concerned. Not only might there come a time when there would be too few workers to support pensioners, but there would also be too few workers to support economic growth.
Two remedies are being suggested: encouraging people to work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, and expanding the work force through immigration.
Such policies might be applied not only in the U.S., but also in other nations facing similar population scenarios such as Japan and many European countries.
In any event, the prospect undercuts the arguments of those who seek zero population growth.
Source: Betsy McCaughey, As Population ‘Boom’ Goes Bust, World Economy Faces Grim Future, Investor’s Business Daily, August 28, 2001.
For more on Population and Resources http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/intdex11.html
FMF\4 September 2001
