WORLD - Ageing Population
By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. At this time the share of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from 1 billion in 2020 to 1.4 billion. By 2050, the world’s population of people aged 60 years and older will double (2.1 billion). The number of persons aged 80 years or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050 to reach 426 million.
While this shift in distribution of a country's population towards older ages—known as population ageing—started in high-income countries (for example in Japan 30% of the population is already over 60 years old), it is now low- and middle-income countries that are experiencing the greatest change. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population over 60 years will live in low- and middle-income countries.
-www.who.int, 1 October 2022
Arno's Commentary
Contrary to many prognosticators sounding the alarm about global overpopulation, the facts have now turned things upside down. Particularly in the rich, industrialized nations, the average age of their populations is increasing. Worldometers.info lists life expectancy (in 2023) as follows: Japan 85 years, Switzerland 84.4 years, Italy 84.2 years, South Korea 84.1 years, Spain 84.1 years, Australia 83.8 years, Sweden 83.7 years, Israel 83.4 years. The US is in 47th place at 79.7 years.
The most popular reasons given for longer life in our times is:
1. Food availability at high quality.
2. Medicine: infectious diseases have been largely eradicated globally—according to OurWorldinData.org, smallpox, polio, yellow fever, measles, mumps, rubella, and many others.
3. Comfort: back-breaking labor in the heat of the summer and during the bone-chilling winter has mostly been replaced by machines.
When it comes to the availability and comfort of transportation and communication, there is no comparison to any time in history.
However, the Bible has this to say: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). For that reason, the Word of God gives this advice: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 19:12). Thus, the main objective of our life is not the length thereof but acknowledgment of our Creator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, Hebrews 9:27 declares: “…It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
