What are the strategies of different countries to solve the “aging population” crisis?

Mehr News, International Group: Population has been an important element for the formation of human life since the beginning of human existence. For the formation of the country, it is one of the important elements of the population, and with the progress of the society and the formation of modern societies, the importance of this component has become more visible.

Today, in the modern world, population is considered to be a component of power, and countries that have a larger population in addition to size have a special position in reaching power in the world community.

Also, population is considered as an effective factor in shaping the power of countries, especially in military, political and economic dimensions. So that population growth in a society and country means more power for the rulers.

Today the world needs human power as much as it needs natural resources and capital. Also, just as countries need land, political power, sovereignty today, they also need population as much or more. Therefore, the element of population is considered the main factor for the formation of a country and for its continued life and survival.

After the end of World War II and based on globalization policies and the use of cheap women’s labor for the economic development of Western countries, the population growth rate decreased significantly. Various reasons have been mentioned by sociologists for this downward trend of the population, the most important of which is the focus on individualism and pleasure-seeking, sexual freedom and the collapse of the family, as well as the priority of economic development in Europe.

Today, the demographic situation of the world is not better than in the past. The decrease in birth rate in developed and developing countries is worrying. Fertility rates are higher in poor countries; But due to the high rate of maternal mortality, the birth rate has decreased in these countries.

Social structures, religious beliefs, economic prosperity and civilization in any country can affect the birth rate and infant mortality.

Decreasing birth rate is not only for Western European countries. Countries like Japan and even China have the same concern. In fact, according to the latest statistics, Japan is considered the oldest country in the world.

As the chart below shows, Asia is at the forefront of this trend, with Hong Kong, Korea South and Japan will have the largest share of people aged 65 and over by 2050. Until then, after Japan, where it will occupy the third place with 37.5%, Italy with 37.1 and Spain with 36.6 will be the oldest countries in the world.

Several factors including lifestyle, lack of affordable housing, increase in sexually transmitted diseases, increase in obesity and environmental factors in There is urbanization and urban lifestyle that affects fertility and leads to an increase in male and female infertility.

The bells have rung for all

The aging population is a crisis that has alarm bells ringing for everyone. Using advertising tricks, sending promotional messages in different ways, and using political and religious figures, and even wealth owners and big entrepreneurs are among the solutions that the world has resorted to to deal with this phenomenon.

Pope Francis, the leader of the world Catholics, calls for governments to pay serious attention to supportive policies in the field of reproduction and family support “There is no shortage of small dogs or cats, there is a shortage of children.“

Elon Musk also warned that the American population is on the verge of extinction and asked the people of this country to start having more children to deal with this crisis. In 2022, Musk said in similar statements that the low birth rate in the United States is a much greater danger to civilization than global warming. Recently, by publishing a post on X social network, he stated that the American population is moving towards extinction.

One ​​of the advisers to the Japanese Prime Minister says: if the country cannot control the decline in the birth rate, which threatens to destroy the social safety net and the economy, it will perish. The country will disappear if we continue like this, Masako Mori said in an interview in Tokyo after Japan announced on February 28 that the number of babies born last year had hit a record low. It is the people who have to deal with this process and face huge damages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said in a speech at the World Council of the Russian People: “Large families should become a norm.”

The old world and countermeasures

Following the reduction of population in developed countries, the need for labor in these countries was seriously felt. The first decision to solve this problem was accepting immigrants; But Western politicians soon realized that this would have serious cultural, political and security risks for them; Therefore, they tried to increase their native population by changing their approach and providing childbearing incentives.

The progress of China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, showed the world that population is the driving force and engine of production and industry of countries. For this reason, all countries are trying to consider the necessary workforce for the progress and continuation of their political life with the increase of their population.

Today, the whole world realizes the important role of the population and is aware of the dangers of population aging, which can truly be interpreted as the “silent death of identity”; Therefore, for this purpose, they have taken measures that I will mention a few of them;

Increasing women’s maternity leave, unpaid leave for grandparents to take care of their grandchildren, financial assistance for working fathers and mothers who are on leave due to the birth of their child or due to They didn’t get paid for taking care of the child for a while; Guaranteeing job security after maternity leave, tuition assistance for students, cash gifts for having children, tax exemptions, housing donation, health assistance and social care are among the incentives provided in countries such as France, Germany, England, Russia, Japan, etc. has been taken.

South Korea plans to house more people by launching high-speed trains and moving people out of the city. Encourage marriage.

Does population growth cause economic growth?

How can more population lead to economic growth? The easiest way for economic growth is through population, labor force. The larger population of a country causes an increase in the labor force, and more labor leads to the production of more products, which is economic growth.

Population increase is not only for producing more products, there must be demand for those products as well. With more population, there will inevitably be more demand for products. Since the supply of products is increasing due to the increase in the labor force, the increase in demand will be taken care of. In general, population growth causes economic growth with more people’s demand and supply of products.

Increased entrepreneurship, greater diversity and cultural richness, supporting social security systems through an influx of young workers, infrastructural development due to urbanization, greater political influence, increased potential for Specialization and division of labor, faster diffusion of ideas and innovation, and a sea of ​​talent are other positive consequences of population growth.

However, an important point in the category of population growth is their management and leadership. How many countries have a large population; But they are in poverty; Therefore, population growth management can produce power for a country along with population growth.