SJS6638

20 Feb 13, 23:16

Ageing population won't slow growth, says expert

20/02/2013on mypaper

BROADER LOOK: Prof Wolfgang Lutz said motivation, imagination and innovativeness are valid factors for economic and social well-being.

SINGAPORE'S ageing population is unlikely to dampen the country's economic growth, a leading Austrian population expert suggested yesterday.

Demographer Wolfgang Lutz said that though further study is required, research so far has not shown any evidence that is in line with the common "expectation that ageing societies have economic problems".

"Our historical experience is still limited but, at least up to this point, I have not seen convincing evidence that the ageing of the labour force has negative consequences," he said.

Professor Lutz was responding to a question on whether the challenges posed by an ageing population may not be as dire as portrayed in the Government's hotly-debated Population White Paper, released last month.

He added that, in fact, it is quite the opposite, citing Germany - which he said is one of the oldest countries by median age of population - as an example of an ageing population which is thriving economically.

"Cyprus has a population that is about 10 years younger than Germany's. So why doesn't the younger, dynamic population of Cyprus overtake (it)?"

The 56-year-old said: "The image of today's elderly in Singapore is strongly formed by the fact that they are largely uneducated."

But he noted that this will change, as the proportion of Singaporeans with tertiary education has been on the rise. This will translate to a better-educated and, therefore, more active elderly population in the future.

The founding director of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital was addressing around 140 academics and members of the public at the RELC International Hotel, during a lecture organised by the National University of Singapore's Institute of Policy Studies.

In his lecture, Prof Lutz said that as a mature society, Singapore must look at its human capital in a broader sense, beyond just formal education.

"Motivation, imagination, innovativeness... These are valid, relevant factors for economic well-being, as well as social well-being," he said.

He said he attended last Saturday's protest against the White Paper, where he sensed that many Singaporeans view a strong sense of cultural and national identity as extremely important.

(((((((((((((((

Wow, he really bothered to attend the Hong Lim Park protest.

I doubt the pinky will take his words to do away with the population white paper. Nothing will deter ah dou to bring in more foreigners to increase ah dou's wealth.

charlize

20 Feb 13, 23:36

troublemaker2005

20 Feb 13, 23:58

bring in foreign labor and immigrants. i worry becasue its a fact that the immigrants new citizens and PRS will grow old and age by then. unless they boot out before 2030 and graduallyso, our population will age more! common sense. but when they use the immigrants and labors foreign as a solution to aging population, i laff out loud man.

just think and say only. never go through the brain.

SJS6638

21 Feb 13, 20:49

Originally posted by troublemaker2005:

bring in foreign labor and immigrants. i worry becasue its a fact that the immigrants new citizens and PRS will grow old and age by then. unless they boot out before 2030 and graduallyso, our population will age more! common sense. but when they use the immigrants and labors foreign as a solution to aging population, i laff out loud man.

just think and say only. never go through the brain.

that is not their concern. what they want is money making.

Mr Milo

22 Feb 13, 21:37

Singapore has become a money making machine....examples, Wheel of Fortunes, Horse Racing, Guess the dice roll

charlize

29 Mar 13, 23:16

SJS6638

29 Mar 13, 23:20

Singapore is not the only country with ageing population, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and others are. The difference is the govt there don;t bring in so many foreigners to affect the locals. They are not driven by profit making.

Mr Milo

31 Mar 13, 07:07

Profitable Singapore :lol:

charlize

31 Mar 13, 18:13

What happened to Uniquely Singapore?

Mr Milo

31 Mar 13, 20:12

Profitable Singapore is Uniquely Singapore

SJS6638

31 Mar 13, 20:16

Originally posted by charlize:

What happened to Uniquely Singapore?

Do you mean UniqLEE Singapore?

carbikebus

26 Apr 13, 22:09

Mr SJS are u driving the Mercedes C180K?

SJS6638

26 Apr 13, 22:10

Originally posted by carbikebus:

Mr SJS are u driving the Mercedes C180K?

Deacon Blue

8 May 13, 00:44

so somple concept no need analysis to say lah. those people think they anyhow say can bluff people arh?

but wait/...maybe they dont even know what's happening on the ground they lost it...and they really believe it...

Deacon Blue

8 May 13, 14:35

I DONT GET IT. AGING POPULATION IS JUST A TERM, WHEN PEOPLE USE CALCULATION LIKE IF A COUNTRY BIRTHRATE IS NOT REPLACING THE DEATH RATE FAST ENOUGH THEN POPULATION IS AGING. SO WHAT? IF WE HAVING LESS LOCAL BABIES NOW, I DONT SEE WHEN THEY GREW UP IN LESSER NUMBERS HOW THEY CAN HELP EVEN IF THEY HAVE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS TO TAK CARE OF OUR AGING? FACE IT WE HAVE X NUMBER OF PEOPLE NOW IN Y YEAS TIME TTHEY WILL GROW OLD. ITS THE GAHMEN THAT SHOULD THINK OF WAYS TO PRPEARE OUR COUNTRY TO LOOK AFTER THEM, WITHFACILITIES AND MEDIACLA PERSONAL, NOT ADDING ARTIFICAIL POPULATION NOW. BECAUSE IN Y YEARS TIME THESE ARTIFICIAL POPULATION WILL ALSO GROW OLD, AND WORSE WE NOW NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THEM.

ARTIFICIAL POPULATION IS TO MAKE GOOD FIGURES FOR SHOW NOW ONLY, WHILE AGING POPUALTION IS A TRUE PROBLEM THAT GAHMEN REFUSE TO FACE IT TOSOLVE IN WHEN IT HAPPEN STARTING FROM NOW!

charlize

8 May 13, 22:27

ok.

charlize

12 May 13, 20:07

wot.

charlize

21 May 13, 23:39

6.9 million.

shirt_less

22 May 13, 10:46

all arguments sound logical...yes these new immigrants will grow old...and yes the new generation of elderly being better educated will be able to take care of themselves better financially to plan for their retirement needs. bringing in more new immigrants add to the social infrastructure costs....the economic gains may not be sufficient to cover the increase in the costs. there will also be social ills that will result in intangible costs being incurred. sometimes big numbers may not be good. small may be good.

charlize

22 May 13, 10:53

You look at new citizen families in the country.

Most of them have only one child. Some don't even have children.

It's doesn't help much in the replacement story that they keep selling to you.

In fact, it makes it worse, because now you have a bigger ageing population for the future.

charlize

8 Jul 13, 19:06

charlize

16 Jul 13, 21:28

ok.