In many countries, the proportion of older people is steadily increasing. Does this trend have positive or negative effects on society?
Thanks to the technological and scientific advancements, people’s lives have become significantly progressed, particularly in improving human health with the most modern applications and effective treatments. Personally, I believe that detrimental effect of the challenge outweighs the positive effect.
Advocates in favour of this phenomenon indicate that older people can provide more valuable experiences and skills to the communities. For example, people find elders are good at teaching and consulting because of their highly skilled communication skills and sound academic knowledge. Thus, it is often the case that most of the primary schools tend to recruit aged employees for a better teaching quality. Apart from that, the ageing population leads to the extension of working life, thereby reducing the demand for pensions.
On the other hand, however, it is the negative influence of this social phenomenon that worries people the most. Firstly, the demographic shift is believed to have a strong correlation with the rising unemployment figures. With the number of elders grows, which promotes the country to raise the statutory retirement age. Thus, an increasing number of young graduates are less likely to seek unemployment. Secondly, another problem associated with an ageing society is that health care costs will escalate, imposing a burden on tax payers. For instance, the government is required to allocate more budgets for age-care centre facilities, and qualified workers.
As people live longer and the populations of developed countries grow older, several related problems can be anticipated. The main issue is that there will obviously be more people of retirement age who will be eligible to receive a pension. The proportion of younger, working adults will be smaller, and governments will therefore receive less money in taxes in relation to the size of the population. They would go on becoming weaker and weaker and would have to depend on their families to fulfill their needs. The families may get tired of their responsibilities in the long run. There would be a wider generation gap, and the old generation would get a culture shock.
In conclusion, the drawbacks of the aging problem outweigh its merits, as it slows down the development of economy and put medical and financial burden on the society.