Economic and social structure for an ageing population

The driving force behind the improvement in the quality of life, the rising standard of living, improving health, and increasing longevity, is a process called 'technophysio evolution', which began about 300 years ago, accelerated during the twentieth century, and is still in progress. Inc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 1997-12, Vol.352 (1363), p.1905-1917
Main Author: Fogel, Robert W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Aged
Aging - physiology
Chronic Disease - economics
Chronic Disease - epidemiology
Chronic diseases
Health Services for the Aged - economics
Health Services for the Aged - organization & administration
Health Services for the Aged - trends
Health Status
Humans
Life Expectancy - trends
Longevity
Malnutrition
Mortality
Pensions
Population Growth
Prevalence
Quality of Life
Recreation
Retirement
Retirement age
Risk Factors
Social structures
Time
United States - epidemiology
Veterans
Workforce
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Summary:The driving force behind the improvement in the quality of life, the rising standard of living, improving health, and increasing longevity, is a process called 'technophysio evolution', which began about 300 years ago, accelerated during the twentieth century, and is still in progress. Increased spending on health care and on pensions is an appropriate concomitant of technophysio evolution, and should be welcomed. Only wasteful medical services should be restricted. The resources available now and in the future can provide increasingly long and healthy lives of relative luxury for all. However, methods of financing health care and retirement need to be modernized. In the future luxury will be defined increasingly in terms of spiritual rather than material resources. The test of well-being in the future for both young and old will be measured increasingly in terms of the quality of health and the opportunity for self-realization.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.1997.0177