Ageing Population in Asia Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Ageing Population in Asia. Answer: Introduction The collective efforts for improvement in demographic indicators such as adecline in total fertility rate, increase in longevity and decreasing mortality rate has shown great results so much so that, on the flip side, ageing population is becoming a serious concern in the countries of Asia (Heller 2006). The elderly population of Asian economies is increasing rapidly from 57.6 million, 4.1% of Asias population in 1950, to projected 922.7 million, 17.5% of the Asian population by 2050 (Menon Melendez-Nakamura, 2009).This demographic shift towards becoming the oldest region of the world is adversely affecting the economic performance of Asian countries owing to the shrinking labour force, declining rate of saving and investment, and increased financial burden of pension and healthcare costs. This essay takes the example of China and Japan to discuss three phenomena which are resulting in theageing population in Asia, and its consequential changes and impact on healthcare services. It further discusses the policy and cultural aspects of theageing population. The Demographic Changes The sudden increase in the birth rate, and hence the world population, in the aftermath of the 2nd World War for next two decades, was the outcome of avigorousincrease in economic activities and consequent increase in prosperity of developed and then emerging Asian economies. Such higher incomes and education level allowed people to give birth to higher numbers of babies between 1946 to 1964 resulting into Baby Boom (Roy, 2014). China, one of the rapidly developing economies in the world, also witnessed similar baby boom during the '50s and 60s of the20th century which resulted in apopulation explosion in the country. This called for strict policy interference and China was subject to One Child Policythat helped China to bring its total fertility rate below 2. Recent uplifting of one child policy is again resulting in a minor baby boom in China (Hvistendahl, 2010).Japan also had a similar fate post-war, which witnessed a simial baby boom between 1947 and 1949 at the crude birth rate of 30 with annual birth numbers above 2.6 million for the same period (Tachi Okazaki, 1969).As against the perceived notion of war-related delays in marriages and births as a reason for thebaby boom, it was identified that lack of modern birth control measures was theactual reason for the baby boom. Post baby boom years in Japan witnessed a sharp decline in the birth and death rate. The fertility rate is understood as the replacement of the parent couple by younger ones. The fertility rate of 2 implies stagnant population as 2 younger ones are left behind when 2 older ones die.The fertility rate above 2 leads to a growth in population while rate under 2 leads to a shrinking population. Chinas famous One Child Policy (OCP) was the front runner measure for the hasty decline in the fertility of China which was at 2.8 prior to the OCP and sunk to 1.5 in 2010 (Retherford et al., 2005). Although Anders (2014) argues that the policy was cruel and unnecessary as the fertility rate would have gradually decreased below 2 without resulting in ageing problems and skewed gender ratio (Anders, 2014). Japan witnessed a decline in fertility in the 1970s and the increase in educational levels of the women is attributed as the major reason for the decline. Access to higher education among Japanese women kept them unmarried in their twenties and this delay in the age of marriage led to the decline in the overall birth rate which reached at 1.39 by 1997(Shirahase, 2000). The mortality rate is defined as the number of deaths per 1000 population, and adeclinein mortality is understood as the decrease in such deaths due to avariety of factors including environmental, biological, physiological etc.Mortality is further understood in the form of infant mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, crude death rate, maternal mortality ratio, and life expectancy. The decline in mortality is one of the reasons for ageing population as the ratio of elderly population increases with respect to total population. China has recorded, globally, one of the most rapid increases in life expectancyat birth from 37 years in 1950 to 66 years in 1980. This duration witnessed the dramatic reduction of around 60% in infant mortality rate and under-five mortality, owing to the educational and public health campaigns (Babiarz et al., 2015).The birth rate gradually declined in Japan and reached at 2.0 in 1975, which continued to decline gradually to reach all time low at 1.26 in 2005. Post-2005, TFR started to rise again and reached 1.41 in 2012, yet the country continues to grey due to higher death rate than birth rate and hence population continues to shrink (Durden, 2013). The later half of the 20th century has witnessed a surge in healthcare services in developed countries, followed by public health missions and campaign in developing countries. Malaria control program, greater emphasis on institutional deliveries with the help of acadre of trained midwives, and aggressive immunisationcampaigns for infants have been the major actions taken collectively at global as well as regional levels. Asia also went through such healthcare programs and upgraded their medical services under the aegis of global and regional institutions like World Bank, World Health Organisation, International Monetary Fund, and Asian Development Bank among others. Aggressive healthcare measures adopted in last five decades has resulted in a paradigm shift in development and demographic indicators in Asian countries, though at a varying speed. Key indicators like mortality rate, fertility rate, life expectancy, has improved drastically. Better health facilitieshave also impacted the educational levels with anincrease in literacy rate and reduced drop-out rate. Better health and education indicators, in turn, improved theoverall quality of life and helped reduce poverty levels to acertain extent. Notwithstanding the differences in China and Japan in terms of size, scale, resources, and economics progression, both the country has made remarkable progress vis--vis their previous state of development in last 50 years. The Policies The rate of ageing is uneven across the countries of Asia due to variation in their economic advancement, healthcare facilities demographic indicators, baby boom generation etc. Concerns related to ageing is acknowledged and rather accommodated in policies and legislations, looking forward to addressing the challenges and leverage opportunities related to elderly population. As per the review of 26 Asian countries by HelpAge (2017), 18 countries have anational policy, legislation or action plan for addressing age-related challenges, with other two are in process to have asimilar policy (HelpAge, 2017). Major components of policies related to ageing population include guidelines on healthy ageing, universal equal access to health care, social protection, housing and living environment, images of ageing in society, and care support for caregivers. Moreover, these policies mention rights and age discrimination, abuse, violence, neglect; and training for health care workers. Those pol icies which are not specific to the problem of ageing also includes some policy measures explicitly addressing elder people. In order to address the challenges of ageing in China, the government has recently relaxed the norm of One Child Policy and ayounger couple is now allowed for having thesecond baby. Other policy measures include mandating or incentivizing the individuals to ensure savings for later years. Social insurance policies dictating intergenerational transfers from working age population to retired people is a similar measure. Increasing the retirement age, owing to the longevity, so as to keep people engaged with labour force for alonger period is another way to secure the future of elderlies. Moreover, Government support inthe domain of healthcare is increasing the capacity of older people to continue serving in the labour force and cushion the monetary burden of medical care borne by them. Another policy measure to check the rise in elderly dependency rate is to encourage the higher rate of fertility and immigration to other countries. The Vienna Plan ofAction provides broader guidelines and general principles on how government, institutions, and society at large can meet the needs of theelderly population and tackle the challenges of ageing of society across the globe (United Nations, 1983). The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002 is second policy instrument adopted by countries across the world. MIPAA, for the first time,recognised elders as contributors to the development of society instead of being aburden on it.The policy also called for governments to incorporate the concerns of older people in all economic and social development policies so as to meet the millennium development goal. The policy measures are adopted by 159 countries on a voluntary implementation basis (United Nations, 2002). The Culture Culturally, the Chinese are very sensitive towards taking care of their parents. This care and sensitivity towards elders are deeply rooted in the Confucian principle of filial piety. Filial Piety is the fundamental value which suggests that one must take care of ones parents, and younger members should take it as a fundamental duty to take care of their ageing parents (Huffington Post, 2014). Abandoning ones parent in China is considered highly disrespectful and treated secluded by the society. With the advent of globalisation and cultural fusion with westernisation, the cultural fabric of China is breaking down in some cities and communities where people are no more concerned with their parents old age. Chinas one-child policy also triggered this lack of affection towards elderly as people started to live in nuclear family structure. Japan is one of the most favourable places in the world for elderly people. The Japanese culture values older people as care for grandparents is engrained in children and families. Till date, many generations of a family live in the same house making the culture of thejoint family a respectable value for the Japanese. The pro-elderly culture in Japan is further attested by the fact that older people in Japan live more than the same in any other country (Campbell Ikegami, 2000). The happiness and longevity among Japanese elderlies are because of strong community bonds, family and healthy living. Japanese are particular about regular physical exercise and healthy food, especially for senior citizens Across civilisations, the healthcare services derive themselves from religious beliefs (Patel et al., 2002). In ancient China and Japan, diseases were thought of as something supernatural and accordingly remedy was sought from the quack doctors. These quack doctors used to relate the occurrence of symptoms with the local culture and belief. These practices have changed over the period of time. New research studies, policy measures taken by the government have resulted in people becoming more aware today and they now rely on scientific means of disease diagnosis and treatment. This remarkable shift identifies itself with changing cultural practices. Cultural beliefs and practices are reflected in the behaviour of individuals. The lifestyle of citizens is primarily driven by their belief system. A government policy is a guiding tool available with the government to deploy its resources to tackle any issue. In the case of healthcare, the conventional wisdom available with the masses to deal with their health concerns is derived from local cultural practices. A huge no. of citizens relies on the government to extend health services to them. Hence it is imperative for a government policy to be culturally sensitive, failure of which will result in a waste of resources, forcing the citizens to resort to old practices and depriving them of modern scientific healthcare services. The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, recognises elders as contributors in the development process and defies the old convention of being dependent and burden on the society. This view encourages and guides the government policies to consider the welfare of elderlies. A thorough analysis of demographics shall enable the policy makers to come up with policy prescriptions that shall enable the to design such policies that empower the elders so that they may better engage themselves in constructive developmental activities. Efforts should be laid to restore the conventional culture of the joint families so that elders may enjoy psychological comfort and add value to building family institutions. Conclusion Demographic pattern in any society is an outcome of local cultural practices and government policies. Every country in its lifecycle attains a peak where its maximum population is young. This situation is known as a demographic dividend. Constructive policies may help in reaping out the benefits of this dividend. The next phase of the demographiccycle has a bulk of the population in the elderly age group. Elders used to be seen as a burden, but recent policy stances by several governments have changed this viewpoint. Elders are now considered as contributors in developmental activities. Governments are designing better social security schemes, healthcare policies for the elders. Research studies in recent times have shown that these policies should systemicallyaccommodate local culture and practices to deliver best results. References Anders, C. (2014).Did China's one-child policy actually reduce population growth?.Io9. Retrieved 29 January 2014, from https://io9.gizmodo.com/did-chinas-one-child-policy-actually-reduce-population-1511784972 Babiarz, K. S., Eggleston, K., Miller, G., Zhang, Q. (2015). An exploration of China's mortality decline under Mao: A provincial analysis, 195080.Population studies,69(1), 39-56. Campbell, J. C., Ikegami, N. (2000). Long-term care insurance comes to Japan.Health Affairs,19(3), 26-39. Durden, T. (2013).Japanese Birth Rate Plunges To Record Low As Death-Rate Hits Record High.Zero Hedge. 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