Briefing paper on population aging to inform the new intake of Public Essay

Briefing paper on population aging to inform the new intake of Public Health Officers in Department - Essay Example There are mainly two demographic factors that determined the rate and pace of population aging. These are decline in fertility rate and the decline in mortality rate at older ages. As the rate of both fertility and mortality has declined significantly in the last decade and is expected to show more significant pattern in this century, so the process of population aging maintain the stability concerning the population growth. However, the process of population aging is getting more speed and significance by the fall in morality rate more than the fall in fertility rate. Since the fall in fertility actually prevents the birth of new allies in the earth and the fall in mortality rate of the older persons actually increasing their relative size, so this process ultimately leads to an increase in share of older persons in the world population. This process has continued since 1950 and results in decrease in mortality rate with an increasing pace even for the very old (more than 85 years) population, especially in the context of female population. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, by 2016, the number old population of New South Wales (65 years and more) is projected to outgrow the number of its child population (0-14 years). The Bureau has estimated that share of older population will increase to 20% of the total population of NSW by the end of 2023. We have shown the trend of percentage share of the child group (0-14 years), aged group (65 to 84 years) and more aged group (85 and above) in the total growth of population in case of NSW by the figure-1. However, there may be another factor that has some effect on the aging of the population. This is the consequence of migration. Process of immigration generally reduces the population aging since mainly the younger persons are the immigrants. But on the other hand, the process of emigration tends to