Aging Societies: Policies and Perspectives

In many countries, aged or rapidly aging populations are threatening the sustainability of fiscal institutions, including conventional tax design and pay-as-you-go pensions, and the efficacy of conventional macroeconomic policies and, thus, require timely structural reforms. Meanwhile, in countries with younger populations, population aging compounds the disruptions linked to technological diffusion, rising inequality, high economic informality, and rapid regional migration and makes forward-looking policy development difficult. These countries must then actively pursue measures to establish a financing base for improved social protection and enhance macroeconomic integrity. This publication recommends policy responses in three main areas. First, it proposes structural reform policies to promote economic growth, macroeconomic integrity, and a resilient labor market. Second, it suggests the reorientation of social protection systems toward poverty alleviation, wealth accumulation, adequate social security for all, and fiscal sustainability. Finally, it recommends the development of data systems, policy pools, and analysis pertaining to the demographic impacts in the G20 countries as well as the emerging economies outside the G20.