Emerging demographic changes in an ageing world: an overview

This overview reviews the presentations on demographic trends that were given at the IAG Congress in Adelaide and the pre-Congress satellite in Singapore. It provides a framework for the field of the demography of ageing, and suggests some promising future research directions. The presentations provided the main features of trends in the demography of population ageing occurring in the main regions of the world. Highlights include the diversity that is found between and within regions, which stem mainly from variations in the pace of the demographic transitions towards lower levels of fertility and mortality. Notable changes also are occurring in the demography of the aged population. These include the growth of the oldest-old, increasing proportions of females at the older ages, and important emergent cohort differences in those reaching the older ages. One thrust of future demographic activity will be to provide more realistic population projections of future trends, especially for countries that are showing super-ageing. A second direction will be more concerted attention to cohort developments, which are particularly crucial in determining social, economic and political responses to changing population structures. A third will be greater attention to changing family structures and behaviours. Finally, there is growing interest in the field of biodemography that draws social scientists, demographers and biologists to focus on interdisciplinary aspects of morbidity, disability and mortality dynamics.