Social sustainability – enhancing and preserving the wellbeing of present and future generations

by Randall Shannon

 

 

The current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, and 9.7 billion in 2050. Today, there are approximately 650 million people over the age of 60 living on this planet. By year 2050 this figure is expected to almost quadruple to over 2 billion. While the increase in the percentage of older people over the next decades represents a global trend, developing countries are expected to experience even more dramatic changes in age composition. For some developing countries, like Thailand, the rate of increase in the older population is expected to be seven to eight times higher than in industrialised countries like the UK and Sweden, according to United Nations estimates. In Asia, the population will be transformed from having 11% to 12% of people over 60 years old today to more than 25% by 2050. Asia, which has seen greater declines in fertility, has smaller percentages of children (24%) and youth (16%). These challenges are becoming increasingly important in light of the ageing of the Earth’s population – the most important demographic shift in the history of humankind.

 

These demographic changes are affecting every country’s governments, institutions, and individuals. They are putting pressure on pension funds and healthcare systems and are having economic consequences that affect economic growth, savings, and investments.

 

They are also affecting families and raises issues such as elderly care giving, family composition, living arrangements, and quality of life in old age. One cannot address issues of quality of life of present and future generations within the constraints of scarce resources without taking the human agency into account. People need to assume a greater responsibility for their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of future generations. Accomplishing such a daunting task requires the understanding of people as consumers of increasingly scarce resources, educating and motivating them to behave in a way that deters overconsumption and enhances their wellbeing and that of future generations over a longer lifespan.

 

Full Story: https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/social-sustainability-enhancing-and-preserving-the-wellbeing-of-present-and-future-generations/

 

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Not to worry. The sustainability gurus of the World Economic Forum has the future all mapped out for you. . . 

 

Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better. . . 

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/shopping-i-can-t-really-remember-what-that-is/