The Graying of the Population

Read this:

A child-free picnic was held in Montreal Saturday by people who have chosen not to have children and are reaching out to others who made the same decision.

Pierre Dubuc took part in the event at Lafontaine Park in Montreal's East End.

Dubuc and his wife Gerarda Capece made a choice not to have children eight years ago.....

"On a Saturday morning, she was just relaxing and watching TV, and she turned to me and said 'You know what, this would be impossible with kids, you know, having kids around'," he said.

Capece said the couple enjoys the company of children — but not all the time.

"I have nephews, I like to play with them but I also like to give them to their mother and go home, you know?," she said.

Capece says people have questioned her decision, asking her who will take care of her when she gets old, but she said she's confident her social circle will help out.

Now read this:

Canadians have new insight into what our nation looks like, as new data from the 2011 Census became available this morning.

And we're looking pretty grey.

For the first time in history, the number of people getting ready to retire is higher than the number of people who are entering the workforce, an expected side-effect of aging baby boomers.

According to Statistics Canada, seniors (aged over 65) account for 14.8 per cent of all Canadians, up from 13.7 per cent in 2006.

I'm sure the Japanese weren't worried, either:

The result is that Japan is being severely pinched at both ends of the age spectrum. The numbers are stark in their ominous simplicity:

1. The number of Japanese children under 15 has declined for thirty consecutive years, from 24% of the population to its current 13%. Japan now has less children than it did a century ago, in large part to the forty million abortions it has suffered since it legalized the practice under the Eugenic Protection Law in 1949. Due to the strong government push for women to enter the workforce in response to the economic downturn, fully 70 percent of single Japanese women now say they do not want to be married. The Japanese “business first” mentality sees having a child as a career-ending decision.
2. The number of people over 65 has increased for sixty consecutive years, from a mere five percent of the population in 1952 to its current 23%, and is projected to increase to 43% by 2050. Japan is currently the oldest nation in the world, with an average age of 45, and this will increase to an incredible 60 years old by 2050.
3. Thus, Japan has the greatest percentage of people over 65 of any nation in the world, and the lowest percentage of children under 15 of any nation in the world.

The combination of a shrinking young population and an exploding elderly population inevitably has profound economic implications.

To begin with, there are less and less workers supporting more and more retirees. In 1950, there were ten Japanese workers supporting each retired person. Now, there are just 2.5 workers supporting each retiree, compared to China’s 8:1 ratio. By 2050, each Japanese worker will have to support one retired person, the lowest worker:retiree support ratio in the world.

The inverted Japanese population pyramid (more elderly than young) also means far more pension and health care spending. Baby boomers are retiring now, and by 2025, 70% of government spending will be consumed by debt service and social security spending.

At the other end of the spectrum, less young people means less workers, which means less tax-derived income for the government. More spending plus less tax revenue means an increase in the public debt.