Get Ready for the Arrival of the Great Transformation; The Greys

2 Corinthians 4:16
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Des Badcock, 82, was eating an ice cream in his garden when the comfortable lounger gave way on him, causing him to become stuck in the seat. The stranded pensioner was able to reach his phone after sizzling in the sun for over half an hour and dialed 999 for the emergency services to then come and rescue him. Read more; http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/385721/Man-rescued-by-fire-brigade-after-getting-trapped-in-DECK-CHAIRAn 80 year-old man drove his vehicle through a window at the Boston Market, at 385 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard in the Cedar Point Shopping Center around 7:15 p.m. Read more from WFMZ.com at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/vehicle-drives-in-to-boston-market-in-allentown/26646280

Things are going to be very different for us all very soon. It’s not supernatural, nor is it unnatural.  We see the change happening everyday. We can’t put our finger on it exactly, things are starting to look different, slowly but surely. People on the streets are changing, Bodies are morphing, faces are distorting, we know something is changing but what exactly is happening?

What’s happening is the entire world is getting old and very soon old people will outnumber the young. Global growth will be slower. Recessions will be deeper. Recoveries will be weaker. And there’s exactly one thing to blame. Demographics.

“Never before in human history, has the number of people over the age of 65 surpassed the number of people 18 and under.” said Thomas Jankowski, associate research director at Wayne State University’s Institute of Gerontology,
“Governments will have to brace for skyrocketing expectations in accommodating larger senior populations, ranging from improvements in housing and transit options to expansion of recreation and health programming”, said Jankowski.

Population ageing is a demographic revolution affecting the entire world. For the first time in history, our global population will no longer be young, thanks to lower fertility, increased child survival and better health.

Population aging is happening in all regions and in all countries at various levels of development. It is progressing fastest in developing countries, including in countries with large populations of young people.

No country is exempt: Seven of the 15 countries with more than 10 million older people are in the developing world. By 2050, another 15 countries currently classified as ‘developing’ are expected to have 10 million or more older people. This generation is growing at a faster rate than the total population in almost all regions of the world.

The world needs to take urgent action to cope with the impact of a rapidly aging population, according to a new report, which forecast that the number of people older than 60 would surpass one billion within a decade.
 A major study published by the United Nations has warned that the growing numbers of the elderly presented significant challenges to welfare, pension and health care systems in both developing and developed nations. And it bemoans the fact that skills and knowledge that older people have acquired are going to waste in societies rather than being used to their full.

“We must commit to ending the widespread mismanagement of aging,” said Richard Blewitt, chief executive of HelpAge International, which collaborated on the report, Aging in the 21st Century.

“We must fully recognize that the vast majority of people will live into old age,” he added. “By revolutionizing our approach and investing in people as they age we can build stronger, wealthier societies.”
The size of the elderly population is expected to swell by 200 million within 10 years past the one billion mark and soar to two billion by 2050, it forecast.
 ”Rather than burying our head in the sand and saying old people are going to ruin our economy, we have to see the opportunity in this,” said Mr Blewitt.

Aging, said the report, “is a triumph of development”.

“Increasing longevity is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. People live longer because of improved nutrition, sanitation, medical advances, health care, education and economic well-being,” it continued.

The fact that the United States is getting older is good news. Longer lives are good news. Healthier people are good news. Declining child mortality rates and a modern post-industrial service economy requires smaller families and fewer children are also good news. But this kind of affluence has a price.

Two centuries ago, Malthus predicted that growing populations would act as a tax on growing economies. In fact, the opposite might be true. Stagnating populations are taxing economic growth in rich economies , and we’re only beginning to feel the implication of a historic graying of affluent nations. The United States got rich off young workers. Transfers to the old and sick might be the necessary price of a wealthy modern society. But too many of those transfers from the pockets of too few workers isn’t a smart plan for growth.

If the most significant barrier to growth is our supply of workers, there are low-hanging solutions to creating more working Americans. One solution would be to cure medical inflation to reduce the financial burden of caring for older Americans. This is all much easier typed than done. The upshot is that demographics can be dangerous, but they aren’t destiny.