United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) (2023)
SDD Working Paper 2023/1
The populations in Asia and the Pacific are ageing, with changes in age structures that result from past and ongoing fertility reductions and increases in life expectancy. Initially, reductions in fertility increase the share of the population of working age while the share of the older population is still relatively low. Persistent low fertility leads to the situation where the share of the working-age population starts to decrease, while the share of the older population increases. This usually goes along with a shortage of workers in certain fields and a noticeable increase in the number of older persons.