Describe and explain the economic and social costs and benefits of ageing and youthful populations - page 2
Keywords: Ageing Populations
By 4stuchfi on 01/10/2008
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 2 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
and in an LEDC like Nigeria that is not always very easy. They would cause a great strain on an already weak economy, the funds, which were to be used to vaccinate the population from lethal diseases like TB, cannot be spent but instead they need to be spent on caring for the elderly. An LEDC with an ageing population could also prompt a spiralling effect. The active population will not be able to support the dependant and so they will have children if they haven’t already or will have more. However when the ‘boom’ children are old the active population might not be able to support the vast number and will need children to help out by working and so birth rate will increase causing the natural increase to rise. In an LEDC a vast population is a big problem because there is often not enough food or housing to support them all.
Youthful populations also present many of the same problems that an elderly dependant population does. There are many benefits of having a youthful population in an MEDC, for example there are more children to go to school and to be educated and therefore later on will fill jobs and they will contribute a lot to society. However although children do provide a lot of happiness for their parents, there are actually more costs than benefits to having lots of children in an MEDC. This is because children are very expensive to feed, clothe, school and maintain for example doctors and dentists. Children in countries like the United Kingdom cannot work full time until the age of 16 and so do not contribute any money to their families or the economy. So their parents keep spending money on them till they are old enough to work with no return, it is then of course very expensive. The youthful population also comes under the dependant population and so also must be supported by the active population. Like the elderly, if there are too many people in the youthful population then a great strain is placed on the economy.
However in an LEDC the more children the ‘better’. In poor African countries, for example Kenya, It is better for families to have more children because the children can help out on the farmland, do manual jobs and help their parents who very often are ill and need the help.
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