11/5/07 – Global Aging: The New New Thing – The Big Picture of Population Change in Asia
Adele Hayutin of Stanford Center on Longevity Speaks at Gerontological Society of America Meeting
San Francisco, CA – Dr. Adele Hayutin, Director of the Global Aging Program at the Stanford Center on Longevity, addressed the 60th Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America today on the topic of population change in Asia. Her speech on “Asia’s Successive Age Waves” highlighted the divergent aging patterns in Asia and the economic and policy challenges and opportunities stemming from these successive age waves. In her speech, Hayutin focused on the economic impacts of rapid aging in Japan, China and South Korea and the divergent demographic outcomes in China and India.
“The potentially profound outcomes from global demographic shifts are most evident in Asia,” Hayutin said in her remarks. “The aging of populations across Asia is already straining the social safety nets of many countries. Slower workforce growth and increasing urbanization will further increase the burden of aging, and the predominance of young adults in many countries will threaten political stability. If ignored, these trends could result in politically and economically tragic consequences on a global scale.”
Dr. Hayutin, who is a Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Global Aging Program at the Stanford Center on Longevity (SLC), has developed a comparative international perspective highlighting surprising demographic differences across countries and illustrating the unexpected speed of critical demographic trends. During her twenty-year career as a business economist, Hayutin focused on issues and trends affecting business investment strategy. Her recent focus has turned to the economic and policy implications of global demographic change.
The Global Aging Program at the Stanford Center on Longevity addresses the risks and opportunities of population aging and the impacts on global economics, sustainability, and U.S. national security interests. The goal of the Stanford Center on Longevity is to transform the culture of aging by combining scientific and technological discoveries with swift entrepreneurial action. The SCL links the top scholars in their fields with government, business and the media to focus on practical solutions for maintaining physical fitness, improving memory and thinking, and using technology to improve savings and health care. The SCL is producing both a number of technological innovations and policy prescriptions related to issues of mobility, cognition and financial well being, but also how we are connected to each other and how we want to look.