The challenge of an aging population. Reflections

Abstract

From the demographic viewpoint the world has gone through significant changes during the twentieth century; the reduction of mortality and fertility levels. Regarding the first, it determined one of the most important events of the second half of the twentieth century: the aging of the population. The evolution of the aforementioned demo-graphic variables varied depending on the level of economic and social development of the countries. In the Cuban case, mortality and fertility declined at a faster rate than the rest of the underdeveloped countries, thus determining a higher incidence in the aging of their population. The changes determined by the triumph of the 1959 Revolution, accelerated the reduction in the levels of both variables, also causing rapid aging of its population, to the extent that in 2025 will be very close to the countries with the highest level of aging in the world, and by 2050, will be among the first. The increase in 60 year old people and over a very fast rate imposes the need to address this challenge, particularly the care of these people from all points of view. This paper addresses these and other important issues.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/pdac.v7i0.694

Revista Población y Desarrollo: Argonautas y Caminantes, Vol. 7, No. 7, 2011 pp.79-92