There are a higher proportion of older people than younger people. Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

It is irreversible that the ageing population has become a common occurrence in many countries. It is hard to deny that the increasing elderly people will result in the high financial burden and pressure of the healthcare system, as the elderly people are more likely to get sick. However, such a statement faces both a factual and logical fallacies. As far as the culture, community, and economy are concerned, I strongly held that the positive side overtakes the gloomy side, if the government could maintain in the balanced ratio for the proportion of the aging population. On the positive that, first and foremost, elderly citizens could impart knowledge, experience and history they witnessed to the younger generation by counselling them, which is significant to the culture. A case in point is that teachers, researchers, doctors, and lawyers requires long-term study and professional experience, the age will not be problem, instead, senior people could contribute enormously to such fields. Therefore, aging population has its role in the workforce market. Furthermore, the fact that elderly citizens share voluntary service indicates that elderly people contributes tremendously to the community. To be more specific, the older people not only provide the childcare, financial, practical and emotional assistance to the busy family members, but they are also responsible for the task of the whole community, such as layoff registration, and mediation among the neighbors. Had it not been for their selfless dedication, the government would never be able to minimize the expenditure on the welfare and social aid. Nevertheless, a voice arises that demerits of the ageing population results in a disastrously economic burden, as the taxpayers need to pay more to meet the fiscal gap caused by the state pension of the elderly generation. Ironically, the elderly citizens are by far healthier than their preceding generations due to the advancement of living standards and technology. Moreover, take the case of China, which prolongs the retirement age with 60 for men and 55 for women so as to reduce the financial burden of pension. In other cases such as German and Italy, the governments also adopts appealing policies to attract the immigrants so as to collect a fund for the gap of the pension as well as the cope with shortage of labor force. As a result, it is trivial to consider the financial burden of the elderly people nowadays. In a nutshell, the merits of the growth of elderly people overweigh the demerits, as the contributions of the elderly people are enormous from the community side, whole society side, and the professional side. I maintain that government shall impose a balanced ageing ratio to give all ages people a better play, as nowadays people are expected to have longevity.