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https://theconversation.com/the-intergenerational-report-tries-to-scare-us-about-ageing-its-an-old-fear-and-wrong-212003>
"The “problem” of Australia’s ageing population has been a concern for decades.
Indeed, I have aged along with it.
The first official report on the subject was produced in a report of the
National Population Council entitled
Greying Australia: Future Impacts of
Population Ageing, which came out as I entered my 30s, sporting a full head of
dark hair.
The latest Intergenerational Report, to be released on Thursday, comes weeks
after – with thinner and greyer hair – I celebrated reaching the official
pension age of 67 (raised from 60 for women and 65 for men).
While ageing brings with it some regrets it is, as French actor Maurice
Chevalier is supposed to have said: not so bad, when you consider the
alternative.
But while individual Australians continue to age at a rate of one year per
year, discussion of population ageing seems stuck in a 1980s timewarp.
The 2021 Intergenerational Report contained an extensive, and gloomy,
discussion of the change in what it called the “old-age dependency ratio” –
which it defined as the ratio of Australians of “working age”, which it said
was 15–64, to those over 65.
But it seems to have escaped the notice of the authors in the treasury that the
school leaving age has climbed to 17, and the pension age has climbed to 67.
This reflects a much bigger problem. Projections of “population ageing” usually
produce a future society that is exactly like the one we have at present except
that there are more old people and fewer young people.
In particular, it is usually assumed people of every given age will have much
the same characteristics and live in much the same way as do at present.
The idea is wrong for at least three reasons."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
