The view from singapore with British High Commissioner to ... - NUSS

SwiM or Sink?
cover story
as early as 1998, the Government was already prompted into
taking action with our ageing population issues. Today, Singapore
is facing a greying population and all the challenges that come with
it. Anthony Koh finds out how the crisis will hit some Singaporeans
harder in their old age.
It is the young who buy new
gadgets, like iPhones or Android
(phones), not old people
like me,” said former Prime
Minister Lee Kuan Yew at the
recent Russia-Singapore Business
Forum on the importance for countries
to grow their population. Catherine
Mayer who coined the term
‘amortality’ in her Time Magazine
feature has, however, a different
observation of old people. Amortals,
as she called them, no longer
conform to age-appropriateness;
instead, they continue to “chase
aspirations and covet new goods
and services”.
Today, there are more people
who are above 60 than those under
15. According to the United Nations
Population Division, demographic
change in Asia will be the most
dramatic. The population of those
65 and above in this region will
tHe
experience a 314 percent increase
from 207 million in 2000 to 857
million in 2050. As of 2009, Japan
was ranked the country with the
highest percentage of population
aged 60 and over. Though this
group constitutes 15.2 percent in
Singapore (almost half of Japan’s),
our 54th position still ranked
us higher than Korea, Thailand
and Malaysia. A report from The
Committee on Ageing Issues (CAI)
revealed that one in five residents
in Singapore will be 65 and above
by 2030. From 2020 till then, the
projected increase for this age group
is 310,000 or 65 percent.
Fast ageing singapore: causes
and effects
Developed countries become rich
first before ageing; developing
countries age first before becoming
rich. Thus, developed countries
are more likely to cope better
with the challenges of caring for
their old than poorer and lessdeveloped
countries. It will take
a tome to explain why some
countries age faster than the
others as demographic issues
are wide-ranging. However, we
can deduce the causes based on
emerging trends which mostly
point to declining fertility rates and
increased life expectancy.
The average Singaporean now
lives 20 years longer than their
predecessors from the 1960s.
Today, male residents who are 65
can live till 82 years with women
living an additional four years
longer. This creates an ageing
problem peculiar to women (see
box on page 8). The issue then lies
in the daunting task of supporting
a greying population vis-à-vis our
declining fertility rate.
Jan-Mar 2013 THE GRADUATE 5