18 October 2017: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a report that finds inequalities are being exacerbated by population dynamics, as people are living and working longer, but may face long periods of unemployment or low income, and may not have family members to take care of them in old age. The report calls for preventing and mitigating inequalities through improvements to health services, promoting the employment of older workers, designing pension systems appropriately and providing affordable home care for the aged while also better supporting informal carers.
The OECD report titled, ‘Preventing Ageing Unequally,’ highlights that the global mega-trends of population aging and rising inequalities are increasing the risk that some people will face old age in poverty. These dynamics are particularly challenging in the case of developing countries, such as Brazil, China and India, where population aging is occurring rapidly, family sizes are shrinking, social safety nets are inadequate, and people do not have the same access to healthcare and related services.
The report highlights the changing ratio of working people to retirees. In 1980, there were 20 working people over 65 for every 100 people of working age. In 2015, there were 28 people over 65 for every 100 people of working age. This figure is projected to rise to 53 people over 65 for every 100 working age person by 2050. The report also finds that higher education levels correlate with better survival outcomes when faced with ill health. The report further observes that women are more vulnerable than men, as annual pension payments are 27% lower for women in OECD countries than for men.
The report calls for a life-cycle approach to managing inequality, cautioning that failure to take action on inequality is likely to jeopardize social cohesion and while locking in patterns of privilege.
The report calls on governments to adopt a life-cycle approach to managing inequality, beginning with providing good-quality childcare and early childhood education, and continuing with school education, health measures that focus on prevention, removing the barriers to hiring and retaining older workers, and moving toward unified pension frameworks. The report warns that inequalities can accumulate over time and become multi-generational, further cautioning that failure to take action on inequality is likely to jeopardize social cohesion and while locking in patterns of privilege. [OECD Press Release] [Report Webpage] [Publication: Preventing Ageing Unequally]