What is Aging of Population?

The process whereby the proportions of children in the population decrease and those of old persons increase is known as the “aging” of the population.

This term is considered to be appropriate, for, in the developed countries, populations became progressively older up to the 1950s and demographers thought that this process would continue in the future.

To their great surprise, however, a reversal in the process of aging was experienced by many countries, such as the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Australia and New Zealand.

It was observed that, in these countries, the increase in the birth rates during the 1940s, and in some countries, even during the 1950s, resulted in an increase in the proportion of children. The consequence was that the median age of the population dropped. Several illustrations of this phenomenon may be given.

In the United States and Sweden, the proportions of children under 15 were 25.0 and 20.4 respectively in 1940. This proportion increased to 26.9 in 1950 and 31.1 in 1960, and then dropped to 28.4 in 1970 in the United States.

In the cases of Sweden, this proportion increased to 23.4 in 1950 and decreased to 21.9 in 1960, and dropped further to 19.6 in 1980. In Australia the trend was similar to the American trend. From 1940 to 1970, the median ages of the population of the United States and of Australia were as follows:

This reversal in the trend in respect of the proportion of children may be a temporary phase, but it has proved that these populations became slightly “younger” in spite of the fact that the proportion of persons of age 65 and above has consistently increased during the period 1940-1980.