Model answer 1
In many countries, improvements in health care and a better awareness of health living has mean that people are living longer, leading to a rise in the number of people aged 60 or beyond. There are a number of effects that this will have both immediate and in the near future, as will now be explained.
The primary issue that this trend is likely to have is the higher percentage of people that have retired and may require pensions or other financial support which will need to be covered by the taxpayer. In the UK, for example, it is estimated that the number, leaving less for other sectors such as education.
Another concern relating to the increasing number of people over 60 is the potential limitation this may impose on the younger generation looking to get started in their career. Finding work will become more difficult as there will be increased staff, which in turn may lead to a loss of new ideas and fresher ways of thinking.
However, this is not to say that an increasing percentage of the population over 60 is an entirely negative aspect. Many people reaching their sixties have had many years working in a variety of different occupations and may bring with them a pool of experience that the younger generation cannot offer. This has the potential to allow companies to build on an expanding pool of knowledge and thus cut cost or develop.
Discussion about the effects of an aging population has become topical in many countries, including my own, in recent years. Many people are concerned about the relative increase in the number of people who have retired and therefore have to be supported by a relatively smaller number of working people. I think that this trend that this trend has both positive and negative effects on society.
The main negative effect is that supporting retired people, either through direct financial support from children or through the tax and benefits system, will become more expensive. This means that either financial support for retired people has to be cut or more money has to be found, either through workers paying more or by finding more workers. In Europe and the trend is towards importing workers from other countries. This had led to heated debates about whether the immigrants can, or even should, integrate fully into European society. Some people believe that allowing mass immigration will undermine the values of cultures aids social development. Japan has decided to import workers, but has also invested a lot of money in developing robots that can take over basic jobs done by humans. This, they hope, will reduce their reliance on foreign workers and avoid any cultural problems.
There are also advantages to having an older population and these are often overlooked. Older people in developed countries where the proportion of the retired population is increasing fastest, are generally healthier than ever. This means that one way of increasing the number of workers and reduce the costs of having a large retired population is to increase the retirement age. A recent report in Britain suggested that the retirement age for men be increased from 65 to 68. One result might be more respect for older workers, who are also more experienced, particularly in dealing with people. Another way of increasing the work force is to get more women into full-time employment. Most British women work, but less than half work full-time. Using this resource would increase the status of women in society.
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