Global ageing: challenges and perspectives

The evidence of the global population ageing elucidates major challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. The most comprehensive document on ageing which determines the contents for international collaboration and provides guidelines and recommendations for building national capacity is the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) adopted in 2002. MIPAA has recognized population ageing as a ‘universal force that has the power to shape the future as much as globalization’ and called on the international community to ‘embrace the potential of the ageing population as a basis for future development’ [1]. The 2017 UN Report features data on the increase in life expectancy during the recent decades [2]. On the global scale, life expectancy at birth has risen by 3.6 years during 2000-2015, i.e. from 67.2 to 70.8 years. According to UN forecasts, by 2030 the population of our planet aged 60 and over will amount to 3.1 bn people. From 2000 up to 2050 , the number of people aged over 80 in the total population structure is predicted to increase from 70 mln to 401 mln, respectively. Thus, a global demographic imbalance is getting worse. In 40 years period, the number of people over 60 will exceed that of people under 15. Low birth rates and increased life expectancy in many countries are certain to cause problems in the labor market, and lack of labor resources in particular. Population ageing is one of the most important factors affecting politics in the multi-dimensional context of social and economic changes and transformations in the labor market. In this connection, the main reforms should be directed at using the potential of all generations and, particularly, that of the growing elder population.