The World must get ready for longevity

The World must get ready for longevity

The next few decades will see a significant rise in life expectancy. Radical policy changes like increase in the age of retirement would be needed to cope with the challenges posed due to increased lifespan.

According to a study by Dr. Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University, due to the developments in the field of anti-ageing technologies, the average life expectancy in the industrialized counties would increase one year every year for the next twenty years. “People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives,” said Dr. Tuljapurkar addressing the annual gathering of American Association for the Advancement of Science in St Louis, Missouri.

In his study, Dr. Tuljapurkar analyzed the past data and trends on ageing and population growth of four countries – USA, Sweden, India and China. Dr. Tuljapurkar said that the increased cost of living would put a huge burden on the economies of these countries. He emphasized the need for governments to plan ahead. “There are conflicts here between government analysts, who have recognized the problem, and the short-term nature of political decision-making,” said the Professor. “Politicians tend to want to roll this problem over until after their terms of office, and the more this gets rolled over the worse it is going to get.”

Dr. Tuljapurkar said that countries like the US will have to spend huge sums on social security if the current retirement age is continued. In order to strike a balance, countries will have to increase the retirement age to 85 years. People should be ready for many other changes in their lifestyle and the society. “It might be possible to go through two mortgages, for example, or even have 50-year or 75-year mortgages,” elucidated the researcher.