Housing for an Aging Population

We use the American Housing Survey to examine the distribution and occupancy of homes that have, or could be modified to have, accessibility features that allow seniors to successfully remain in the community as they age. Despite the aging population and the growing need for accessible housing, the U.S. housing stock is woefully inadequate: fewer than 4% of housing units could be considered livable by people with moderate mobility difficulties, and a miniscule fraction are wheelchair accessible. Recent construction is no more likely to be accessible than homes built in the mid-1990s, suggesting that the housing market is not responding to the aging demographic profile. Only a small fraction of seniors, even among those with mobility difficulties, and even among recent movers, live in suitable homes. Modifications that potentially improve accessibility are more likely undertaken by households with a senior, but only once that senior develops mobility difficulties.     

应对人口老龄化问题及对策研究

人口老龄化是现代社会发展的必然趋势,也是当今世界各国共同关注的问题。黑龙江省于2005年进入了人口老龄化阶段,并呈现出人口老龄化加快的趋势。老年人口的快速增长对社会经济发展和人民生活的各个领域带来广泛而深刻的影响,应引起各级政府的高度关注和重视。根据人口普查及相关资料,对黑龙江省老年人口现状进行了分析和研究,并提出了应对人口老龄化的对策和建议,旨在为党和政府统筹解决人口老龄问题提供参考依据。     

Narratives of Aging and the Human Rights of Older Persons

Amid intensifying calls for an international convention on the rights of older persons, it is timely and important to examine the different narratives of aging that are informing and shaping debates on the human rights of older persons and to explore their implications. The article examines the dominant and competing narratives of aging emerging from public policy and gerontological studies, most notably, aging as a crisis or burden; aging as pathology; conceptions of successful, productive or active aging; and finally, aging and vulnerability. The implications of each of these narratives are analysed. The article then explores the extent to which these different narratives are taken up or challenged in advocacy for an international convention on the rights of older persons. The aim of the discussion is to make explicit and interrogate the narratives of aging which advocacy for a new convention on the rights of older persons may be perpetuating or challenging.     

Mortal Beings: How Evolution Helps Us Understand Illness and Aging

In these two books, biological anthropologist Richard Bribiescas and developmental psychologist David Geary address sex differences in health and aging from the perspectives of evolutionary biology and psychology. Bribiescas explores the aging process in men and describes why and how men age differently from women, with earlier mortality and greater susceptibility to the diseases of aging. Geary provides a comprehensive survey of the animal and human literature on sex differences in vulnerabilities to the effects of stress on psychological and physical traits. Both authors focus on the role of Darwinian sexual selection as the source of different health outcomes for men and women. These works make valuable contributions to our understanding of why humans get sick and age and argue convincingly for approaching medical research with a greater sensitivity to the role played by biological sex in poor health.     

老龄化是新世纪我国面临的严峻挑战

本首先展望了21世纪我国人口老龄化的发展前景,指出在未来50年中,我国将处于高速度、高水平的老龄化发展进程之中,65岁及以上老年人口将从8000多万增至3亿以上,这对尚处于社会主义初级阶段的国家来说,无疑是个巨大冲击和严峻挑战;分析了老龄化的特殊性及其对社会经济发展所带来的深刻影响和至关重要的制久作用;提出了迎接老龄化挑战是个关系全局性、战略性的重大问题,必须采取有中国特色的正确战略选择。     

农村劳动力转移对农村老龄化的影响及其对策建议

中国农民是最大的弱势群体,而农村人口老龄化问题成为束缚全面建设小康社会和农村可持续发展的“瓶颈”。通过定量分析,指出农村劳动力异地转移客观上加剧了农村人口的老龄化程度,削弱了传统的养老方式。如何有效解决这一问题,已成为重大研究课题。提出要实现农民“生有所靠、病有所医、老有所养”,必须及早谋划,城乡统筹,因地制宜,结合各地实际情况,建立多层次的保障模式;最后提出必须在农村加速建设社会保障制度的9项对策建议。     

人口老龄化与农村老年医疗保障制度

人口老龄化导致老年人医疗服务需要增加。然而,经济因素制约了老年人医疗服务需要向需求的转化,阻碍了老年人健康状况的改善。为实现世界卫生组织(W H O)提出的“健康老龄化”目标,促进全面建设小康目标的实现,必须为老年人尤其是收入低且几乎没有任何医疗保障的大量农村老年人建立医疗保障制度。建立制度面临筹资来源少、技术难度高、医疗卫生条件落后等制约因素,需要采取“低水平、广覆盖、采用多种模式、利用各方力量、加强配套设施”的发展策略。通过建立农村老年医疗救助、合作医疗、“时间储蓄”等多种制度,提供完善的医疗供方体系,保障农村老年人的基本医疗需求,促进其健康状况的改善。     

In the Eye of the Storm? Societal Aging and the Future of Public‐Service Reform

One of the principal motivations for the reinvention of many central governments over the last two decades is the need to deal with chronic budget deficits. As budget surpluses reappeared at the end of the 1990s, the pressure to restructure seemed to ease in some countries. However, observers suggested the relief was only temporary, and aging populations would soon put more stress on government budgets, creating a need for further retrenchment. This article assesses the vulnerability of three central governments—the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States—to aging-related fiscal stress. Because of institutional differences, the U.S. government is likely to be hit hardest by this demographic change. This may imply that public-sector reform will take a different path in the United States than it will in the United Kingdom or Canada.     

Demographic,Employment, Expenditure,and Income‐Related Dependency Ratios: Population Aging in the Fifty States

Old‐age dependency ratios (OADR) are frequently used to measure the economic impact of U.S. population aging. However, at the state level youth‐dependence, and the “birth dearth,” are important. While federal expenditures on elder Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are large, state expenditures on dependent youth are much higher than on elders. The states are ranked by the OADR and three other dependency ratios that consider youth and a state's employment, fiscal outlay, and per‐capita income. Very different rankings are found. States with higher OADR ratios had lower total dependency expenditures. Projections for 2030 are compared with 2000 results.