Demographic profile of the older population

Ageing is taking place in the world’s adult population and within the older population itself. The proportion of persons aged 80 years or over within the older population increased from 7 per cent in 1950 to 14 per cent in 2013 (figure 3.1). According to the medium-variant projection, this proportion of “oldest-old” within older persons is expected to reach 19 per cent in 2050 and 28 per cent in 2100. If this projection is realized, there will be 830 million persons aged 80 years or over by the end of the century, seven times as many as in 2013. As indicated in earlier chapters, the present number of persons aged 80 years or over is the result of a) the birth rates of many decades ago, which determined the initial size of these cohorts and b) the survival rates, which have been improving dramatically since these cohorts were born.

Related Subject(s): Population and Demography