In current society, the life expectancy in western countries has increased significantly. Also, fewer babies are being born, causing the relative percentage of elderly people to increase. These people have to be taken care of, causing the question to arise whether this number of elderly people can be cared for.
When people grow older, they can also develop more health issues, resulting in more visits to doctors and hospitals, and an increased usage of pharmaceuticals. Due to the current large numbers of elderly people, the pressure put onto health care systems is increasing. In many western countries, the state provides most of the health care system. Therefore, with increasing numbers of old people, higher percentages of state funding have to be allocated to health care and this could cause shortfalls in other areas, for example education. This change in the distribution of money can therefore impact society negatively.
Society should be able to handle these changes. Governments will have been able to predict the changing demographic situations in their countries and plan accordingly. This might indeed lead to other sectors in society having money taken away from them, but caring for the elderly is one of the key responsibilities of today’s governments. For the future, it might be necessary to ensure that an extra insurance charge is levied on people’s salaries in order that any future financial shortfall is met. This would be unpopular, but would allow governments to have the necessary funds available.
In conclusion, society today and in the future should be well able to deal with caring for their elderly. It is only a question of care full long-term forecasting and planning.
In
current
society
, the life expectancy in western countries has increased
significantly
.
Also
, fewer babies are
being born
, causing the relative percentage of
elderly
people
to increase. These
people
have to
be taken
care
of, causing the question to arise whether this number of
elderly
people
can
be cared
for.
When
people
grow older, they can
also
develop more
health
issues, resulting in more visits to doctors and hospitals, and an increased usage of pharmaceuticals. Due to the
current
large numbers of
elderly
people
, the pressure put onto
health
care
systems is increasing. In
many
western countries, the state provides most of the
health
care
system.
Therefore
, with increasing numbers of
old
people
, higher percentages of state funding
have to
be allocated
to
health
care
and this could cause shortfalls in other areas,
for example
education. This
change
in the distribution of money can
therefore
impact
society
negatively
.
Society should be able to handle these
changes
.
Governments
will have been able to predict the changing demographic situations in their countries and plan
accordingly
. This might
indeed
lead to other sectors in
society
having money taken away from them,
but
caring for the
elderly
is one of the key responsibilities of
today
’s
governments
. For the future, it might be necessary to ensure that an extra insurance charge
is levied
on
people’s
salaries in order that any future financial shortfall
is met
. This would be unpopular,
but
would
allow
governments
to have the necessary funds available.
In conclusion
,
society
today
and in the future should be well able to deal with caring for their
elderly
. It is
only
a question of
care
full long-term forecasting and planning.