THE SOCIOLOGY OF AGING: IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY

The nations of the world are aging. In comparison to decades of the past, older cohorts represent a growing share of the world's population. This trend is the result primarily of declining fertility rates and, secondarily, of increasing longevity. Even those countries that have only recently experienced significant fertility declines are beginning to deal with the effects of an older population, effects that will become more pronounced early in the 21st century. Indeed, although a larger share of the developed world's population is beyond the age of 55 (22% as opposed to 10% in developing nations), more than half of the world's older population lives in developing countries (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992).