Growing old in Asia: Declining labour supply, living arrangements and active ageing

Several decades ago, the discussion on population and development focused on the large size and high growth rate of the population, resulting from rapidly declining mortality rates and continuing high fertility which leads to population explosion. Controlling of infectious diseases through the diffusion of public health programmes and the availability of modern antibiotics invented in Western countries were some of the key factors in declining mortality rates in developing countries including those in Asia (Hirschman, 2005).