Last August, amid all the coverage of the presidential election, a significant news item was overlooked. That was the fact that, last year, America's birth rate reached a record low of 59.8 births per 1000 women. By comparison, at the peak of the baby-boom years, the average was 122.9.
In a country that is getting older with a projected percentage of the over-65 population rising from 15% today to 24% by 2060, this is a problem. The problem lies in the fact that social programs rely heavily on younger Americans paying into programs like Medicare and Social Security to keep them buoyed into the future. If there are fewer young people and more older people, the young are going to have to carry a bigger burden to support the seniors of the future. Plus, who will take care of an aging population? Is senior-care the big job sector of the future?
Facing the same outlook, Japan is desperately trying to "develop" robots to take care of its sick and older population. But, what about the cost of caring for an aging population in the U.S.? Has anyone heard of a single politician that seems concerned about this? Democrats seem to think that Medicare and Social Security are solvent programs as far as the eye can see!
References:
US fertility rate falls to lowest on record: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/health/us-lowest-fertility-rate/
Fact Sheet: Aging in the United States: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Media-Guides/2016/aging-unitedstates-fact-sheet.aspx
Development of care robots growing in aging Japan: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/27/national/social-issues/development-care-robots-growing-aging-japan/#.WM7adWclTb1
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