UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Policy Briefs

Population ageing is a global phenomenon, a shift towards an increasing share of older persons in the population. Even the least developed countries (LDCs) are beginning to experience the progressive ageing of their populations, and this process is expected to accelerate during the second half of the current century (United Nations, 2023). Despite its far-reaching consequences, the emergence of this trend in LDCs has attracted only limited attention from both national policymakers and the international community. Most LDCs are still early in the decades-long process of population ageing, which is a direct consequence of the demographic transition towards longer lives and smaller families. Population ageing begins with a slowdown in the growth of the younger population but eventually involves the rapid growth of the older population. Early in this process, countries have an opportunity to benefit from the demographic dividend – a faster rate of economic growth on a per capita basis due to an increasing share of the working age population (and thus a falling dependency ratio) caused by a sustained decline in the fertility level. Although temporary, this opportunity often lasts for several decades. It comes to an end once the older population begins to grow more rapidly, leading to a rising old-age dependency ratio. Preparing for population ageing in LDCs will be critical for achieving sustainable development and ensuring that no one is left behind. Maximizing the benefits from the demographic dividend will provide an opportunity for these countries to develop economically before their populations become much older. It is also consistent with a pledge of “working together to support the acceleration of the demographic transition, where relevant”, as agreed in the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022–2031 (United Nations, 2022).

Ten years ago, the United Nations celebrated the International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In the same year, the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway, an ambitious 10-year action plan for SIDS, was adopted at the Third International Conference on SIDS held in Apia, Samoa, in 2014. The SAMOA Pathway identifies critical linkages between population and development in island states, most notably in the areas of health, gender equality and women’s rights and on the role of migrants in enhancing development in their communities of origin. Many of these linkages are also highlighted in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), along with emerging demographic issues that present new challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of SIDS.

With less than seven years left to the 2030 deadline, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been limited. But, at the SDG Summit in September 2023, Member States of the United Nations committed to bold, ambitious, accelerated, just and transformative actions to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For Governments, strengthening relationships and earning public trust is pivotal to realizing the changes required for more sustainable and resilient societies. While the COVID-19 pandemic significantly hindered advancement towards the Goals, and in some cases reversed progress, it also sparked innovation and experimentation in public institutions and in the way they interact with one another and broader society from which lessons can be drawn to reinvigorate efforts.

Middle-income countries (MICs), defined in terms of gross national income per capita, are a large and heterogeneous group of countries that differ across a broad range of development indicators. Despite their differences, MICs have common aspirations and contend with similar challenges. The recent confluence of crises has caused severe setbacks that have compounded longer-term development bottlenecks. Many MICs require international support to address current and long-term challenges. Eligibility criteria that rely only on income per capita limit available support – including access to concessional finance – without accounting for MICs’ multidimensional development needs.

The latest estimates and projections of global population from the United Nations, indicate that China will soon cede its long-held status as the world’s most populous country. In April 2023, India’s population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850 people, matching and then surpassing the population of mainland China. India’s population is virtually certain to continue to grow for several decades. By contrast, China’s population reached its peak size recently and experienced a decline during 2022. Projections indicate that the size of the Chinese population will continue to fall and could drop below 1 billion before the end of the century. Taking account of future population trends in national development planning is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, those related to poverty, food security, health, education, gender equality, decent work, inequality, urbanization and the environment, and for ensuring that no one is left behind.

Languages are one of the most significant emblems of human diversity, revealing how we can perceive, relate to, and understand the world differently. Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory and values. They are an essential component of our identities. Out of the 6,700 languages spoken worldwide, forty percent are in danger of disappearing. Indigenous Peoples make up less than 6 percent of the global population, yet they speak more than 4,000 of the world’s languages. Most of the languages that are under threat are Indigenous languages. This dilemma is human-made and is exacerbated by ongoing assimilationist policies, social pressure, demographic change and the emphasis on a homogeneous nation State model that shares one culture and one language. The loss of global language diversity has been greatly accelerated by colonization and globalization. Other significant factors in the erosion of Indigenous languages are the dispossession of lands, territories and resources; repression and assimilation; genocide and shrinking ageing communities in which language is not passed to next generations.

This Policy Brief examines how public institutions can more effectively engage youth and promote their participation in decision-making and public service delivery to build more inclusive and resilient societies. It first examines the challenges public institutions face in meaningfully engaging youth in decision-making and public service delivery, as well as the behaviors and characteristics of young people that can be relevant to policy dialogue and participation. It then explains how digital technologies can be harnessed to effectively engage young people in decision-making and delivering public services. Lastly, it provides a set of policy recommendations on how public institutions can overcome engagement challenges and build an enabling ecosystem for youth participation.

Old age disadvantage begins at birth. Much of the inequality between older persons has its roots in early life conditions. Without policies to prevent it, disadvantages reinforce one another through peoples’ lives, leading to large disparities among older adults. A life course perspective on ageing is critical to improving people’s health and well-being throughout the life course into old age. The onset and severity of disability – affecting either physical or mental health – profoundly impacts the lives of people and their families and incurs large economic and societal costs in terms of health care and caregiving needs. Disability is a key outcome of unequal ageing as it has been tied to both early life conditions, such as childhood poverty and later life risk factors, including health behaviors, occupation and chronic stress. Examining physical functional limitations as a measure of disability lends itself to cross-national comparisons of inequalities in health in old age as it measures difficulties that people face in carrying out tasks in their daily living, and does not depend on access to health care and medical professionals for diagnosis, as is the case for examining differences in the prevalence of diseases, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

In recent decades, all regions of the world have seen substantial progress in life expectancy at birth, which was estimated to be at 72.8 years in 2019 compared with 64.2 years three decades ago. As importantly, life expectancy has increased at all ages such that a person at age 65 in 2019 was likely to live 6.2 years longer than in the early 1950s (United Nations, 2022). But life expectancy differs significantly across countries and within them. Inequalities in health and in life expectancy across countries have received attention from the international community, which recognized that such inequalities are unfair and beyond an individual’s control. Assessing country-level inequality in life expectancy is therefore useful to examine whether outcomes in countries with high increases in life expectancy differ by their social and health policies. For instance, reducing inequality in life expectancy across countries points to the role that health policies play in controlling a wide range of diseases responsible for disparities in child and maternal mortality.