Internation perspective on aging population. Population and Foodstuff Supply.
Final Research PaperFocus of the Final Research Paper
International Perspectives on an Aging PopulationThroughout the course of the textbook and resource reading and weekly tasks, the over-arching theme of an aging population has been expressed. The final research paper asks you to focus on this important theme and also consider how it impacts advanced societies practically and from a social policy perspective.
How to Begin:First, read the United Nations, 2015 World Population Aging Report (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. [Pages 1-8 summarize the contents of the overall report and pages 99-101 provide the conclusions; after reading the full report, refer to these to help guide you in the aspects of population aging that you want to focus upon for your paper.]
Task: After reading the report, your textbook, and research resources from the Ashford Library, present the following:
Explain what population aging is and why it is occurring in the industrialized Western world. Be sure to include theories of population aging such as demographic transition and specific reasons why the overall populations in advanced societies like Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are aging. The UN report highlights these as ‘demographic drivers’.In the UN report, it highlighted key challenges of an aging population. Explain and support with scholarly resources the three challenges as they pertain to:Ageing, poverty and economic growth;Ensuring social protections of older persons;Promoting health and well -being in old age.The UN report concluded that proactive planning was important and that there were key policy actions that countries should take to alleviate the challenges of an aging population.Present why it is important for Governments to proactively plan for an aging population through the implementation of social policies.Focusing on the United States, present and expand upon the key actions and the types of social policy and specific programs that could support the report’s findings regarding:sustainable pension systems;adaptable health care systems;alleviating age discrimination. Writing the Final Research PaperThe Final Paper
Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..Must include a title page (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. with the following:Title of paperStudent’s nameCourse name and numberInstructor’s nameDate submittedMust address the topic of the paper with critical thought.Must be presented in the traditional research paper format of:Title PageIntroduction (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Body of Paper (covering provided assignment prompts)Conclusion (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Reference ListMust use the textbook and at least six scholarly sources that were preferably written within the last five years. The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources tablePreview the document offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment. For help searching the library’s scholarly resources check out this Database Search Tips tutorial video (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..Be sure to integrate your research (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. rather than simply inserting it. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Cite your sources in text and on a separate reference page. For more information please review the In-Text Citation Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and the APA References List. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
International Perspectives on an Aging Population
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International Perspectives on an Aging Population
The aging of people means that the median age is going up in the populace of that area (Poterba, 2014). The increase happens when the fertility rates reduce while life expectancy goes up. The distribution of a nation's citizens moves to the older ages because many regions have a life expectancy that is increasing, hence, an elderly population. This trend is shifting from developed countries to the less developed ones. According to Poterba (2014), the aging population is presently high, and the United Nation forecasts the rate to go even higher in this century than the former one. Citizens above 60 years continue to increase, since, the 1950s getting to more than 500 million at the beginning of this millennium and going to almost 800 million in 2007 (Poterba, 2014). By 2050, the aging population might be more than 2 billion.
Theories of Population Aging
The Malthusian Theory
This is a model of increase of people exponentially and supply of foodstuff arithmetically. Thomas Malthus, an English priest, and academician published the theory in 1798 (Thornton, 2017). Malthus assumed that positive and preventive check would help control the population, hence, balance the supply of foodstuff with the level of population. The above checks would result in the Malthusian catastrophe as explained below.
Population and Foodstuff Supply.
Malthus hypothesized that people increased in geometric progression, which is a sequence of numbers where statisticians find every term after the initial one by multiplying the former by a fixed number. The number is known as the common ratio and must not be zero. For instance, in 2, 20, 200, 2000, and 20000, the standard ratio is 10.
Also, Thomas hypothesized that the manufacture of foodstuff increases in arithmetic progression, which is an arrangement of numbers where the variation between the successive terms is constant. For instance, in 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, the common difference of 4. This follows the law of diminishing returns.
Therefore, the population tends to go up at a higher rate than food supply, hence, leading to the scarcity of food.
Population Control.
Thomas claimed that the higher population growth rate than food supply would lead to numerous deaths. Malthus hypothesized that to correct this would require both the positive (natural) and preventative checks, which result in Malthusian catastrophe, hence, take the population to its normal level.
Positive (Natural) Checks.
Malthus believed that natural forces would balance the population growth and supply of foodstuff through natural calamities such as tremors and floods. Some human-made activities such as fighting and food crisis would also balance the population growth and supply of foodstuff.
Preventative Checks.
To balance the population growth and supply of foodstuff, Thomas also proposed the use of preventative methods, such as family planning and marrying late to regulate the population increase.
The Theory of Demographic Transition
Demographic transition involves changing from high to low rates of births and deaths as nations advance to an industrial economic system (Cervellati & Sunde, 2015). Warren Thompson suggested this theory in 1929 when he saw fluctuations in the rates of births and deaths in industrialized regions. Many developed nations have low birth rates, hence, completed the demographic transition while the developing ones are still in the process. The theory predicts that birth rates continue to reduce as countries become wealthier, but recent data opposes this. The present data suggests that beyond a particular level of growth, birth rates escalate once more.
The Transition's Stages
Stage One
This is the stage of pre-industrial society. Here, both the death and birth rates are at the top and approximately in balance. At this stage, the growth of population is slow as the existing food supply pressurizes the society. Hence, if nations do not come up with new technologies to grow more food, any variations in birth rates will match those of deaths.
Stage Two
This is the stage of developing nations where death rates go down fast because of enhancements in the food supply and hygiene that improve life expectancies while lessening illnesses. Certain activities such as crop rotation and discriminatory breeding are great improvements. Others include many developments in public health to minimize mortality. In Europe, the decrease in death rate began at the end of the 1700s without an equivalent reduction in birth rates, which leads to an imbalance. Nations at stage two have high growth of population because birth rates continue to shoot up.
Stage Three
In this phase, birth rates decrease because of many fertility issues such as accessing contraceptives, salaries' rises, urbanization, increased ladies' education, and other social changes. In Europe, the decrease in birth rates began in the 1800s. Both the contraceptives and transition in values help in reducing birth rates.
Stage Four
This stage has both low birth and death rates. It is dangerous when birth rates go down below replacement level like in some nations such as Germany and Japan. This behavior results in a shrinking population, which is a risk to several businesses that depend on the growth of population. When many people who were at stage two grow old, countries experience a financial burden employed residents who are shrinking. Death rates might sometimes rise because of the increased lifestyle ailments, lack of enough exercises, aging people, and high obesity in nations that are developed.
Specific Reasons why the Overall Populations in Advanced Societies like Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are Aging
The aging of people is widespread all over the globe, but mostly in the highly developed nations, although the rate is rising in the less developed countries. Therefore, the aging population will concentrate progressively in the less developed nations shortly (Poterba, 2014). According to Poterba (2014), the aging of people is currently low in Europe and might greatly affect Asia in the future, since Asia has both low birth and death rates. According to the United Nations' classification, the more developed countries with about 1 billion people, the median age changed from 28 around 1950 to 40 in 2010 (Poterba, 2014). This age might increase to 44 by 2050. The equivalent statistics for the entire globe are 24 in 1950, 29 in 2010, and 36 in 2050. The less advanced countries' median age might change from 26 in 2010 to 35 in 2050.
Population aging results from the decreasing fertility and the snowballing longevity. When longevity goes up, the age of individuals increases because the number of older people continues to rise. On the other hand, as fertility does down, the number of children born decreases. This reduction leads to the younger people decreasing in number. The decreasing fertility is the main contributor to the aging of people around the globe nowadays. The snowballing longevity does not affect the aging as much as the reducing fertility. Particularly, it is the enormous fertility rate reduction, since, about the 1970s that mainly caused the population aging in the globe's highly developed nations (Poterba, 2014). Several developing countries are experiencing quicker fertility changes, hence might have faster aging of people than the presently developed nations in the future.
Many individuals now know about the aging and the effects that it has on the lives of their kids, grandchildren, and themselves. To reduce population aging, Canada allows its per capita immigration rate to be high, although immigration cannot be a feasible way for decreasing population aging. Therefore, as fertility goes below...