Description
This paper was presented at the International Symposium on Lifelong Learning for Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development: Developing a Research Agenda for the Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, 12-13 January 2011. Tom Karmel suggests that there are four implications of an ageing population: the need to improve labour force participation and productivity; the ageing population will provide a 'demographic dividend' because there will be fewer young people to school; increasing life expectancy changes the arithmetic of the return to investments in human capital and makes investment in the middle-aged more attractive; and ageing populations in developed countries provide an opportunity for developing countries through the export of labour services.Summary
About the research
Demographic change in the modern world is synonymous with an ageing population. Karmel suggests that there are four implications of an ageing population for lifelong learning that are worth exploring. The first is the need to improve labour force participation and productivity, and education is a key driver of this. The second is that the ageing population will provide a 'demographic dividend' because there will be fewer young people who need to be schooled (relative to the working population). The third is that increasing life expectancy changes the arithmetic of the return to investments in human capital, and makes investment in the education and training of the middle-aged more attractive. The final implication is that ageing of populations in developed countries provides a golden opportunity for developing countries through the export of labour services.