AGEING SOCIETIES

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Routledge, May 1, 2014 - Science - 376 pages
Demographic ageing is a reality - within 25 years half the population of Western Europe will be over 50, one quarter over 65, and the Less Developed Countries will contain one billion elderly people. Ageing Societies examines the myths, challenges and opportunities behind these figures.

Ageing Societies explores three areas:

§ the growing necessity for extending economic activity into later life and the implications of societal ageing for the intergenerational contract and the provision of social security

§ the changes in modern families and the implications the changes have for the provision of support and care for the ageing population

§ the biggest demographic challenge of all: ageing in the Less Developed Countries where there is little or no infrastructure to provide long-term care or social security.

Combining bio-demography, sociology, economics and development studies, Ageing Societies highlights the opportunities of an ageing population for a mature society. Age-integrated and flexible workforces, increased labour mobility, intergenerational integration, age equality and politically stable age-integrated societies are the potential benefits of a demography which will be with us for the majority of this century.

 

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Contents

List of Figures
Lengthening lives
Demographic change and development
World population prospects
Understanding the laws of mortality
In conclusion
Age and the life course
from rest to reward to right
Lengthening adult unions and parentchild relationships
Spectrum of formal and informal care resources
Financial transfers
Late life economic security in developing countries
Current debates
Familybased transfers
In conclusion
Working and saving for retirement

Concerns over the forecast dependency ratio
Health status attitudes and expectations of workers
Move from defined benefit to defined contribution
Reforms in the United States
Ageing of life transitions
Age integration in the family
Developing a framework for understanding the dynamics of mature societies
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About the author (2014)

Sarah Harper is Director of the Oxford Institute of Ageing at the University of Oxford, UK. She has taught and studied issues of demography and societal ageing in China, Scandinavia, Australia and the USA, and was Professor in public policy at the University of Chicago, USA.

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