Is Latin America Ready for its Aging Revolution?
By Daniel Cotlear and Phillip Hay
Population aging is a global issue that affects virtually every country around the world, especially at a time when family support and other traditional safety nets have become far less certain in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. In Latin America, for example, life expectancy has jumped by 22 years over the last 50 years and its population is now dominated by working-age adults with significantly fewer children and now faces the prospect of rapid aging .
A new report from the World Bank’s Human Development Network warns that governments and communities in the region cannot afford to be complacent about its ‘greying revolution,’ given that the next 50 years will be very different from its past half century. According to Population Aging: Is Latin America Ready?, countries with large numbers of elderly people will find it more challenging to achieve economic growth and to meet the healthcare, pension, and other needs of their elder population will be especially difficult for low- and middle-income countries to afford. Early planning for the region’s powerful demographic shifts with the right policies and institutions will be vital to safeguard Latin America’s social and economic future.
OECD countries have been getting used to the idea of rapid aging over previous decades as a result of smaller family sizes, better health, more money, and longer lives, all of which has been a huge social plus. But we should all be worried that rapid aging is no longer a rich country phenomenon and that many poorer countries are now catching up, but largely without the money and advanced planning to cope with the social and economic challenges of this profound social change.
