Consequences of Older Population



Abstract

Although the current population growth rate has decreased over time to 1.26 percent per annum, the world population will keep growing into the future because of “population momentum,” that is, the tendency of the population to continue growing despite low growth rates because of a relatively high concentration of women in their childbearing years. An easy way to gauge the population growth potential is to calculate the doubling time, the time required for a population to double its size given the current rate of population growth. Since human populations grow exponentially, the “rule of 69” (natural logarithm of 2) can be applied to population estimation. The doubling time is approximately equal to 69 divided by the growth rate. The world population will double in fifty-five years at the current growth rate of 1.26 percent per year. In this paper, we try to focus on the older population. The purpose of this paper is to explain the consequences of older population. Population ageing brings substantial challenges to healthcare policy-makers. A major challenge relates to the 'epidemiological transition', a term coined to describe the increasing importance of disease and death attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in comparison with those caused by infectious diseases. The paper highlights the paper with the tables related to the topic.

Consequences of Older Population

Introduction

In developed countries the epidemiological transition was a relatively long process starting at the end of the nineteenth century; in developing countries it is occurring now at a much faster pace. For example, the main causes of deaths for the 1909 birth-cohort in Chile were respiratory infections (20%), other infectious diseases (13%) and cardiovascular diseases (12%) - whereas for the 1999 birth-cohort they are projected to be replaced by cardiovascular diseases (31%) and cancers (23%) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001).

Thesis Statement

Healthcare systems in the developed world will have to adapt to the shifting needs due to further population ageing.

Background

Many developing countries will continue to face a double burden of disease, i.e., the upsurge of NCD will co-exist with the burden from the 'old' agenda, with infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, still at devastating proportions. Adding to that there is the problem of new infectious diseases, particularly AIDS (Population Reference Bureau, 2004).

Methodology

This research is going to utilize the qualitative method of research. The data in the study has been collected through the secondary methodology and has been used to perform the investigation. The secondary analysis has also been done through researching, studying and reproducing the literature from various articles, journals, cases and available literature.

Discussion

The most affected countries, e.g. Botswana in sub-Saharan Africa, are now experiencing the paradox of seeing life expectancy at birth rapidly declining (reflecting premature death of children and young adults), while the percentage of older people remains the same or even increases (as they are at much lower risk of being infected by HIV). All in all, resources will continue to be required for infectious diseases, either for their treatment or for their prevention, in parallel to increasing ...