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Definition

Population ageing (or population aging) occurs when the median age of a country or region rises, i.e., when people live longer and have fewer children. With the exception of 18 countries termed by the United Nations “demographic outliers” (United Nations, 2005), this process is taking place in every country and region across the globe. There are, however, significant variations across countries in terms of the degree, and the pace, of these changes (United Nations Population Division [UNDP], 2002).

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Population aging is a shift in the distribution of a country’s population towards older ages. This is usually reflected in an increase in the population’s mean and median age, a decline in the proportion of the population composed of children, and a rise in the proportion of the population that is elderly. Population aging is widespread across the world. It is most advanced in the most highly developed countries. However, research by the Oxford Institute of Ageing (http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/...

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Correspondence to Christelle Garrouste .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Garrouste, C. (2014). Aging Population. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_59

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_59

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5

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