The U.S. Census Bureau says the world’s population is aging fast.
The increase is led by people over 65 years old. The number of people worldwide age 65 and older is estimated at 506 million as of midyear 2008. By 2040, that number will hit 1.3 billion. So in 32 years, proportion of older people will double to 14 percent of the total world population, says the report.
The report was commissioned by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, and produced by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“An Aging World: 2008” examines nine international population trends that were identified in 2007 by the NIA and the U.S. Department of State in the report, “Why Population Aging Matters: A Global Perspective”.
The report as well details information on life expectancy, health, disability, gender balance, marital status, living arrangements, education and literacy, labor force participation and retirement, and pensions among older people around the world.
“Aging is affecting every country in every part of the world,” said Richard Suzman, director of NIA’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research. “While there are important differences between developed and developing countries, global aging is changing the social and economic nature of the planet and presenting difficult challenges. The fact that, within 10 years, for the first time in human history there will be more people aged 65 and older than children under 5 in the world underlines the extent of this change.”
Highlights of the report include:
• The current rate of growth of the older population in developing countries is more than double that in developed countries, and is also double that of the total world population.
• As of 2008, 62 percent (313 million) of the world’s people aged 65 and older lived in developing countries. By 2040, today’s developing countries are likely to be home to more than 1 billion people aged 65 and over, 76 percent of the projected world total.
• People aged 80 and older, are the fastest growing portion of the total population in many countries. Globally, the oldest old population is projected to increase 233 percent between 2008 and 2040, compared with 160 percent for the population aged 65 and over and 33 percent for the total population of all ages.
• The 65-and-older population in China and India alone numbered 166 million in 2008, nearly one-third of the world’s total. Issues related to population aging in the world’s two most populous nations will be accentuated in the coming decades as the absolute number climbs to 551 million in 2040 (329 million in China and 222 million in India).

• Childlessness among European and U.S. women aged 65 in 2005 ranged from less than 8 percent in the Czech Republic to 15 percent in Austria and Italy. Twenty percent of women aged 40–44 in the United States in 2006 had no biologic children. These data raise questions about the provision of care when this cohort reaches advanced ages.
• Older people provide support to as well as receive support from their children. In countries with well-established pension and social security programs, many older adults provide shelter and financial assistance to their adult children and grandchildren. Older people in developing countries, although less likely to provide financial help to children, make substantial contributions to family well-being through such activities as household maintenance and grandchild care.