Implications of population ageing: opportunities and risks

The demographic profile of New Zealand’s population for the forthcoming decades is already established; the population is growing older and can only be altered by a major change in the mortality rate. An often-projected view is that population ageing will have negative consequences for society – for example, fiscal consequences through increased New Zealand Superannuation and health costs and social consequences through the burden of additional familial care responsibilities. How much fact underlies this rhetoric? As Jonathan Boston and Judith Davey point out in their conclusion to Implications of Population Ageing: Opportunities and Risks, we do not know how changes in the age structure of the population will affect social attitudes, values, norms and behaviours. There is much uncertainty over key social and economic variables. Knowledge is developing through ongoing research into the impact of population ageing and a government initiative like the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy is an encouraging development.