In the developed world, average life expectancy is increasing. What problems will this
cause for individuals and society? Suggest some measures that could be taken to reduce the
impact of ageing populations.
The average life span of individuals from industrialized nations is gradually increasing.
While many people welcome this phenomenon as a positive change, this essay will discuss its
negative impacts to people and society as well as suggests solutions to the challenges of
increasing longevity.
Although, many people would love to live longer, there are certain drawbacks. One of
these is the fact that when people age longer, they tend to acquire age-related health
conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, renal failure, and et cetera. Working
as a nurse, I have encountered a lot of elders struggling from these conditions instead of enjoying
their retirement and living a peaceful life. Moreover, governments will be faced with increasing
demand of long term caring facilities. Increasing age-related diseases coupled by an increasing
demand of care centers for the elderly are serious challenges.
One approach to these problems of increasing life expectancy is for the government to
initiate and invest more on health and wellness awareness programs, and bringing them closer
to the people. Building a fitness and nourishment facility for the elderlies on each state is surely
costly, but its long term effects to their health and living quality, in my opinion, far outweighs
government expenditures. Another solution the government can prioritize is to ease tax on
private companies owning care centers for the seniors. This tax system would encourage these
companies of expanding their amenities to accommodate more ageing people. The government
can tackle these issues by increasing health awareness of its citizen and reforming tax system for
long term care industries.
To conclude, there are certain drawbacks to increasing life span. Fortunately, the
government has lots of options to successfully address these issues.