Asia is rising on the backs of its young. Generations of salarymen pushed forward the Japanese economy to post-war affluence in the decades after the end of World War II. In South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore – the so-called Asian Tigers – internationally competitive firms exported progressively high-tech manufacturing and services, enabling their economies to sustain high growth for decades. In Southeast Asia and China, the migration of young people to urban centers has powered the economy forward.
While the development path is well trodden in Asia, each country has a different demographic profile. Stories now abound of the challenges Japan faces as one of the world’s oldest societies and the issues that constrain China’s industrialization as its population grays quickly. In Southeast Asia, per 2015 data, the median age of the population ranges from youthful Laos (21.6 years), Cambodia (23.9 years), and the Philippines (24.2 years) to mature Thailand (38 years) and Singapore (40 years).
Nevertheless, even the demographics of Southeast Asia are transitioning to older societies due to lower fertility and lower mortality. As such, countries in Southeast Asia will have to grapple with the same issues that countries with older populations currently contend with: what happens after these workers grow old? What happens if the country grows old before it grows rich? What happens when the country is rich but its elderly are poor?
One advantage that countries in Southeast Asia have is the ability to learn from other countries’ examples of what to do and what not to do. The industrialized economies in Europe and the Americas set up old-age welfare systems decades ago, albeit with its many deficiencies. As Southeast Asian countries start constructing their welfare systems, they can choose what works for their social contexts.
But whatever Southeast Asian countries choose, they must start building old-age social security. Failure to do so is evident in South Korea. The initial assumption, also widespread in Southeast Asia, that families will support the elderly broke down in the go-go economic expansion, resulting in old South Koreans getting no pensions. As a result, in 2015, 39 percent of South Koreans aged 60 and older were still working, while the figure for the 60-to-64 age range was 59.4 percent, six percentage points higher than 2005. Among the lucky ones with jobs, four out of 10 earned below the minimum wage.
This week’s Spotlight articles highlight plans to make lives for the elderly better in the Philippines and elaborate how the elderly contribute to the global development agenda. Jejomar Binay, a former vice president of the Philippines, writes about the reasons why new programs and services for the elderly are taking off in Makati City. Meanwhile, Shamshad Akhtar, the United Nations undersecretary-general, points out the humane ways the elderly can still serve the development of their communities.
