Elderly Person
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The world's population is always of great interest to the public, but our attention seems to be drawn towards its size rather than its age.

According to the United Nations, the world's population is expected to peak at around 10.3 billion by the mid-2080s before gradually declining. Why? Because our population is aging.

By the mid-2030s, it's expected that the number of people aged 80 and over will surpass the number of infants. By 2080, the number of people aged 65 and older are expected to outnumber children under 18.

It's unsurprising that the world population is aging given life expectancy rates are on the rise and fertility rates are on the decline, presenting significant challenges that world and national organisations are forced to consider.

Here's everything you need to know about the world's aging population, the challenges it brings, and how world leaders are preparing to deal with it.

Why Is The World's Population Aging?

The problem of our aging population is actually largely due to some of society's greatest achievements in the last century– an increase in life expectancy and women's rights.

Thanks to social, economic, and health advancements, people are living longer. In most places, people can expect to reach 60-years-old and beyond.

Life expectancy is now back on the rise after COVID-19, with the average life expectancy from birth reaching 73.3 years in 2024, an increase of 8.4 years since 1995.

Declining fertility rates are also contributing to the rising age of the population, although this is mainly due to women's increased access to education and employment. The rising cost of raising children, access to family planning, and urbanisation are also major factors in why adults are conceiving less.

In 2024, women, on average, were bearing one child fewer than those in 1990.

What's The Problem?

While life expectancy has increased dramatically, healthy life expectancy has not.

With age comes a gradual decrease in physical and mental capacity. Health conditions like hearing loss, dementia, diabetes, cataracts and refractive errors, and geriatric syndromes become a lot more likely to develop.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), evidence suggests the rate of healthy aging has remained constant, meaning the additional years gained from increased life expectancy are spent in poor health.

This has created concern for world organisations and national governments alike as the number of people supporting the dependent population becomes outnumbered.

The UK Parliament has outlined that if healthy aging doesn't vastly improve to match that of life expectancy, it 'will place ever-greater pressure on the public finances, as a relatively smaller working-age population supports growing spending on health, social care and pensions.'

An aging population also means there is less need for schools, teachers, and products for children, putting a strain on manufacturers.

What Is The World Doing About It?

Organisations' main challenge is to bridge the gap between life expectancy and healthy aging.

Global collaboration has begun on the United Nation's Decade of Healthy Aging (2021-2030) which aims to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities they live in.

Its four action areas are defined as:

  • combatting ageism – changing how we think, feel, and act towards age and ageing;
  • age-friendly environments – ensuring that communities foster the abilities of older people;
  • integrated care – delivering person-centred integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people; and
  • long-term care – providing access to long-term care for older people who need it.

WHO is the Decade Secretariat of the UN Decade of Healthy Aging, and is leading the global collaboration between governments, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, the media and the private sector.

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