Religion and Aging

Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Explorations

Andrea Bieler, Matthias Stracke, Angelika Veddeler, Andrea Bieler, Matthias Stracke, Angelika Veddeler

• Publisher: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9783374051816
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Gerontologie

This collection of essays explores the intersection of religious, psychosocial, economic and cultural issues in relation to the dramatic demographic shifts we are facing on a global scale.Theologians, gerontologists, anthropologists and practitioners reflect on the meaning of aging in diverse contexts such as Indonesia, South Africa, Tanzania, Botswana, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. Assuming that aging is an intricate process that encompasses enrichment and loss, the gain of wisdom and the loss of memory, and the expansion as well as the constraint of agency, the essays analyze how these dynamics play out in different cultural contexts. Special attention is given to the role of religion in processes of aging.[Religion und Altwerden. Interkulturelle und interdisziplinäre Erkundungen]Der Sammelband untersucht das Zusammenspiel religiöser, psychosozialer, ökonomischer und kultureller Aspekte in Bezug auf die dramatischen demographischen Veränderungen, mit denen wir in globaler Perspektive konfrontiert sind. Wissenschaftler und Praktiker reflektieren aus theologischer, gerontologischer, sozialpsychologischer und anthropologischer Perspektive die Bedeutung von Alterungsprozessen in unterschiedlichen Kontexten, z. B. in Indonesien, Südafrika, Tansania, Botswana, Deutschland, Mexiko und der Schweiz. Ausgehend von Überlegungen, die zeigen, dass Alterungsprozesse komplex sind und sowohl Bereicherung und Verlust, den Zugewinn an Weisheit und den Verlust von Erinnerungsfähigkeit sowie die Ausweitung als auch die Einschränkung von Handlungsfähigkeit beinhalten können, wird danach gefragt, welche Gestalt diese Dynamiken in unterschiedlichen Kontexten annehmen. Dabei kommt insbesondere die Bedeutung von Religion in den Blick.

Interdisciplinary Horizons

The Longevity Revolution – Global Developments and Ways Forward

Ina Voelcker and Alexandre Kalache

Population aging is one of the most important global trends marking the twenty-first century. Many countries are living a real ‘longevity revolution,’ associated with ever-growing proportions of older people who are living longer and longer. Consequently, existing notions of older age are changing rapidly, especially as the Baby Boomer generation is now living what used to be considered ‘old age.’ Never before have so many older people been alive at once. Today, only Japan has a population with over a third being aged 60 and over.1 By 2050, 61 countries will have a third of their population aged 60 and over. This list will cover 30% of the world’s countries, including China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

1. Rethinking Aging in Light of Demographic Changes

Why are existing concepts changing? Why does this revolution, as an “overthrow of social order in favor of a new system,” require us to abandon the prevailing notions of old age and retirement?2 Given the additional 30 years of life that populations have gained on average during the last century, existing systems have become unsustainable. In some countries, this gain in life expectancy happened during the course of a century (mostly European countries, but also Argentina, Canada, and New Zealand), but in others this will happen in just half a century (such as China, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Bolivia). In Brazil, for instance, someone born today can expect to live an additional 20 years compared to someone born in the 1960s. Against this backdrop, individuals and groups who start to rethink existing structures are becoming more and more common.3

In order to understand this demographic trend towards older populations, however, it is first and foremost important to grasp the two main contributors to population aging: increasing life expectancy and decreasing fertility rates. Globally, life expectancy has increased 8.5 years just during the last 30 years. Life expectancy has never been higher than it is today. In some countries it is as high as 82 years, in others as low as 49 years. Today, there are 36 countries in the world with a life expectancy at birth of 80 or above. By 2050, almost half of the world’s countries will be part of this group. Further, while fertility rates are still high in many countries, half of the world’s countries already have fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 children per couple.

Against this backdrop, it is important to question how old age and retirement are perceived and what implications this has for public policy. Due to the enormous social and economic challenges resulting from population aging, it is becoming a central issue to global and national policymaking. Indeed, to respond to these challenges arising from the longevity revolution, various other global trends that occur in parallel have to be understood simultaneously. Each time more people are living in cities, for instance, and in a world as globalized as it is, local issues can no longer be solved in isolation. Migration has, especially with the continued crises in the Middle East and Southern Asia, become a contemporary and at the same time controversial topic. The number of international migrants today would take Brazil’s position as the fifth most populous country in the world.4

This chapter will conclude with recommendations for multisectorial action in response to the longevity revolution, involving not only the public sector, but also the private sector, the media, academia and civil society, as well as intergovernmental organizations which also have an important role to play. One of the core recommendations is to empower individuals so they can influence their own lives, not only directly but also indirectly via policymaking.

A World of Growing, but Constantly Unequal, Life Expectancies

Globally, life expectancies are increasing. Today, the global average life expectancy is above 70. While much of the increase in life expectancy is due to improved survival in younger ages associated with improvements in hygiene, sanitation, and medicine – particularly in less developed countries – it is increasingly, and in particular in more developed countries, influenced by the improved survival of older people. Mortality patterns are changing. In less developed countries, deaths occur primarily in early childhood and are then spread equally across other ages, while in more developed countries most deaths occur in older age. The causes of death also change as countries develop. Non-communicable diseases are becoming more prominent in both developed and developing countries, while communicable disease continue to be a significant cause of mortality in less developed countries.

Concurrent with mortality patterns that differ between more and less developed countries, there is also a strong association between socioeconomic development – represented by GDP per capita – and life expectancy at birth.5 In countries with a high GDP per capita, life expectancy already exceeds 80 years. Today, there are more than 30 countries around the world where life expectancy exceeds 80. About 30 years ago, not one country had such a high life expectancy. Only Japan had a life expectancy close to 80 (77 years in 1985).

In 1950, the highest life expectancies (around 70 years) were experienced in Northern Europe. Today, people living in Korea, Belize, Russia, and Ukraine, for example, have similar life expectancies to people in, for example, Finland in the 1950s. Comparing today’s life expectancies across countries also demonstrates stark inequalities. While people in the most developed countries can expect to live, on average, over 80 years, people born in some of the poorest countries in the world, like Swaziland, Lesotho or the Central African Republic, can expect to barely live to 50. This does not, however, mean that there are no older people in these African countries. While this is a frequently held assumption, over five percent of the population in these countries are made up of people aged 60 or older and as elsewhere these figures are increasing. Indeed, by 2050 the number of older people in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to triple.6 A better way of understanding aging in sub-Saharan Africa is to look at life expectancy at age 60. One can see here that, indeed, once a person has passed early child- and adulthood, their chances of survival increase. In the above-mentioned countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a person aged 60 can expect to live on average for another 15 years.

Nonetheless, inequalities in life expectancy also continue to persist at older ages. Older people in some of the most developed countries have 10 more years of life to live than people aged 60 in these sub-Saharan African countries. In France, for instance, someone aged 60 today has an average life expectancy of 25 years.

While there are inequalities in average life expectancies at birth and at age 60 across countries, these differences persist within countries and among sexes. Globally, women who are 72 years old have four years longer to live than men. This gender gap is higher in more developed countries than in less developed countries. Furthermore, a clear social gradient can be observed within country- or even city- borders. In London, for example, the gap between life expectancy at birth in different parts of the city is over 17 years.7

Despite these inequalities, there is good news: we have more years to live, more years to be a child, an adolescent, an adult, and an older adult. However, if we live healthier lives is a question that remains to be answered. Current research evidence on this question is not consistent; it varies across geographic regions, populations, and indicators used to measure health.

Dropping Fertility Rates

The increase in life expectancy alone does not yet result in population aging. The main contributing factor to population aging is rapidly decreasing fertility rates. At a global level, fertility halved between 1950 and 2015. It fell from almost 5 children per woman to around 2.5. In many African countries, fertility rates remain high with 5 to 6 children per woman. In others, mainly European and richer Asian countries, fertility rates are as low as 1.2 to 1.3 children per woman.

As of 2010, 75 countries in the world had fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. Low-income countries represent 30 of these 75 countries. These changes in fertility rates are likely the result of an increasing realization that children have higher chances of survival, of growing access to contraception, and changing gender roles linked to higher education and labor force participation rates among women.

While life expectancy patterns explain a social gradient, for fertility rates a strong association to education attainment can be observed. For instance, the fertility rate among Brazilian women with seven years or less of schooling was as high as 3.07 children per woman, while for those with eight years or more of schooling it was almost half (1.69).8

Migration – A Third Direct Determinant of Population Aging

While mortality and fertility are the main contributing factors to population aging, migration also contributes to changes in a country’s age structure and to the total population. Within the European Union, for instance, in five of the twelve countries that reported population decline in 2014, negative net migration was the main reason for population decline.9

The impact of migration on population aging is more apparent at the regional level. In particular, migration away from rural towards urban areas mostly leads to exacerbated population aging in rural areas.

Population Aging – More Older and Less Younger People

Increasing life expectancy and decreasing fertility rates are the main contributing factors to a growth of the older population. The population pyramid tends to invert, with bigger generations of older people and less children. While Japan is still the only country ...