First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In the coming decades, challenges and risks associated with rapid population ageing will be paramount in Asia-Pacific. Examining key trends, dilemmas and developments with reference to specific nations, the book draws conclusions and policy recommendations that apply to Asia-Pacific as a whole. Individual chapters focus on the impact of population ageing, along with urbanization and industrialization, on the lives of people in the region. The book shows how leaders in Asia-Pacific – political, community and others – need to respond to changes in family and social structures, disease pathology, gender roles, income security, the care of older citizens and the provision of social and health welfare.

Aging is a challenge which countries in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) regions are grappling with or will soon confront. It raises many questions for policymakers ranging from potential macroeconomic impacts, to fiscal challenges of supporting pension, health and long-term care systems, and labor market implications as countries seek to promote productive aging. The urgency of the aging challenge varies across the region, but it will confront all EAP countries in time and early preparation is essential to avoid the missteps of other regions. Live Long and Prosper discusses the societal and public policy challenges and reform options for EAP countries as they address aging. It aims to strike a balance between aging optimists and pessimists. On the one hand, the impacts of aging on growth, labor markets and public spending are not the unavoidable catastrophe often feared. However, minimizing the downside risks of aging and ensuring healthy and productive aging will require proactive public policy, political leadership, and new mindsets across society. The report reviews the evidence on demographic transition in EAP and its potential macroeconomic impact. It addresses the current policy environment including pensions and social security, health, and long-term care and labor markets to assess the risks of 'business as usual'. It also suggests policy directions to promote healthy and productive aging in EAP, and emphasizes that aging is not just about older people, but requires policy and behavioral change across the life cycle.

In many countries across the Asia Pacific region, people are adapting to the new demographic shift, but there is nonetheless much concern. This book documents the various educational approaches rendered by both public and private sectors to enable elderly individuals in their own countries to re-engage in society more inclusively, to stay longer in the labour market, and to become less dependent on the state or their families. In order to produce active, healthy, and productive aging citizens, the experiments showcased by this book highlight how adaptive action is needed across many policy areas, with emphasis on shaping structural differences in the composition and organisation of higher education systems that can better foster lifelong learning among elderly citizens. The book is a great venue to underline the interplay of the theory and practices of vastly complex challenges.

This volume brings together a range of contributions that provide contemporary regional science perspectives on population change and its socio-economic consequences in the Asia-Pacific region. This region accounts for close to two-thirds of the world’s population and is highly diverse in terms of key demographic indicators such as population size, growth, composition and distribution. The authors provide quantitative assessments, either descriptively or by means of modelling, of important demographic issues affecting this part of the world. The topics addressed include: broad demographic trends across the Asia-Pacific region and its sub-regions; assessment of population decline, urbanization and spatial distribution using cases from China, Colombia, Japan and Australia; migration and economic impacts in Australasia, Chile and Timor Leste; and the impacts of declining or low fertility and population ageing in China, India, Thailand, and across Asia. Given its scope, the book will appeal to all readers seeking to understand population change and impacts across the Asia-Pacific region, with a specific focus on sub-regional differences and dynamics.

Ageing in Asia contains a selection of leading social systems and programs, with interesting case-studies offering innovative and useful lessons. The book covers ageing and related developments occurring in the most dynamic industrializing and urbanizing societies of emerging Asia. It includes topical issues such public policies and responses to current challenges from the growing needs of an ageing population due to rise of chronic non-communicable diseases, amidst rapidly changing social, cultural, economic and political changes in the region. The main purpose of the book is to provide useful comparisons of social care systems undergoing rapid transitions, and to offer some examples of best practices and lessons to respond to the changing needs due to population ageing.

Compared to other regions, Europe and Central Asia are by far the oldest. Moreover, population aging is set to accelerate further over the coming decades as large segments turn old. Additionally, some countries such as Russia and certain Eastern European countries are facing a shrinkage of their population. Against this backdrop, this report investigates what stands in the way of societies reaping the full benefits of increased longevity--that is, longer lives and potentially prolonged payoffs from human capital--and what can help to mitigate the possible negative impacts of a smaller and older workforce. Beginning with a focus on demographic trends, the report puts the rapid decline in fertility and contrasting migration trends in the region in a historical perspective and looks forward to the varying paths that population change may follow in the region. Next, it examines the evidence on the likely impact of demographic change on growth and savings, the labor force, firm and economy-wide innovation, poverty and inequality, and intergenerational solidarity. Finally, the report goes beyond diagnostics and puts an emphasis on what we know regarding successful policy interventions, presenting evidence on what has and has not worked in the past.--Publisher description.