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Question for Australians: what about population aging? I believe it will be huge problem in Germany. Is Australia doing fine with this?

by lnsru 4y ago

lbriner 4y ago
Agreed. A big problem in the UK. People retire too early for their life expectancy today so massive pressur eon Pension pots, lots of pressure on Nursing Homes, particularly those provided by the state that will cost more, in some circumstances, than the guest has paid in taxes in their entire life. Also, lots of issues with beds in hospitals that are full of the elderly with all kinds of old-age medical issues but who might not be dischargeable until there is some kind of assisted care available. I can't see there is any obvious solution other than raising retirement age and even having our National Insurance system more like real Insurance where the costs reflect the risks so that Joe Public realise how much healthcare actually costs.
- j7ake 4y ago
  Opening up immigration for young people abroad to aging countries would also rebalance the age distribution. Uk seems to be going backwards on that front.
- fuzzy2 4y ago
  I don’t see how raising the retirement age would solve anything (except making the early retirement deduction higher, if that’s a thing where you are). Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. Or could even find work in the first place.
  - wahern 4y ago
    > Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. That's true as a matter of logic, independent on any other information. But we have other information, at least in the U.S., and that information is that the percentage of people 65+ working has more than doubled since 1985, a trend that seems to be quite steady through the decades. Moreover, there's a trend of people 65+ individually working more hours. Even if these trends magically stopped today, the fact remains that there are substantial fiscal improvements that could be had by restoring the status quo ante regarding actual retirement age in practice and legal qualifications for retirement benefits. Sources: https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-65/ https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-6..., https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-..., https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010.S2301 https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010...
docdeek 4y ago
Ex-pat Australian - maybe Australia is slightly less worse off than Germany when it comes to an aging population. Quick Googling suggests Australia’s +65 year old population is expected to be about 25% by the 2050s [1] while Wiki suggests Germany in about the same period is expected to be about 37/38% [2]. It’s something that has been discussed in Australia for decades but the country still seems to be less impacted than Germany and some other European countries right now. 1: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3222.0Main%20Features12006%20to%202101 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/32... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageing_of_Europe#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageing_of_Europe#Germany
freefrog334433 4y ago
Unfortunately Australia has the highest rate of immigration amongst developed countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_by_country#Oceania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_by_country#Oceania Government fiscal policy appears to be 'just add people' instead of anything clever. I say this is unfortunate, because more people are being affected by climate change as housing extends into flood plain (esp. Western Sydney) and larger rural town are affected by drought (Dubbo almost ran out of water). The housing market was also out of control.

Question for Australians: what about population aging? I believe it will be huge problem in Germany. Is Australia doing fine with this?

by lnsru 4y ago

Question for Australians: what about population aging? I believe it will be huge problem in Germany. Is Australia doing fine with this?

lbriner 4y ago

Agreed. A big problem in the UK. People retire too early for their life expectancy today so massive pressur eon Pension pots, lots of pressure on Nursing Homes, particularly those provided by the state that will cost more, in some circumstances, than the guest has paid in taxes in their entire life. Also, lots of issues with beds in hospitals that are full of the elderly with all kinds of old-age medical issues but who might not be dischargeable until there is some kind of assisted care available. I can't see there is any obvious solution other than raising retirement age and even having our National Insurance system more like real Insurance where the costs reflect the risks so that Joe Public realise how much healthcare actually costs.

j7ake 4y ago
Opening up immigration for young people abroad to aging countries would also rebalance the age distribution. Uk seems to be going backwards on that front.
fuzzy2 4y ago
I don’t see how raising the retirement age would solve anything (except making the early retirement deduction higher, if that’s a thing where you are). Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. Or could even find work in the first place.
- wahern 4y ago
  > Just because people live longer doesn’t mean they’re fit to work longer. That's true as a matter of logic, independent on any other information. But we have other information, at least in the U.S., and that information is that the percentage of people 65+ working has more than doubled since 1985, a trend that seems to be quite steady through the decades. Moreover, there's a trend of people 65+ individually working more hours. Even if these trends magically stopped today, the fact remains that there are substantial fiscal improvements that could be had by restoring the status quo ante regarding actual retirement age in practice and legal qualifications for retirement benefits. Sources: https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-65/ https://www.aarp.org/work/employers/americans-working-past-6..., https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-..., https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010.S2301 https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=s2301&tid=ACSST1Y2010...

docdeek 4y ago

Ex-pat Australian - maybe Australia is slightly less worse off than Germany when it comes to an aging population. Quick Googling suggests Australia’s +65 year old population is expected to be about 25% by the 2050s [1] while Wiki suggests Germany in about the same period is expected to be about 37/38% [2]. It’s something that has been discussed in Australia for decades but the country still seems to be less impacted than Germany and some other European countries right now. 1: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3222.0Main%20Features12006%20to%202101 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/32... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageing_of_Europe#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageing_of_Europe#Germany

freefrog334433 4y ago

Unfortunately Australia has the highest rate of immigration amongst developed countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_by_country#Oceania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_by_country#Oceania Government fiscal policy appears to be 'just add people' instead of anything clever. I say this is unfortunate, because more people are being affected by climate change as housing extends into flood plain (esp. Western Sydney) and larger rural town are affected by drought (Dubbo almost ran out of water). The housing market was also out of control.