According to a United Nations Report (World Population Aging Report 2015, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs), Korea is one of the fastest aging countries in the world. As of 2015, in terms of the proportion of the population aged 60 years or over, the US Virgin Islands leads the way at 11 percentage point increase per annum followed by Japan at 9.9 percentage points, Malta at 9.3, Finland at 7.3, and Korea at 7.2. Compounding the issue for Korea is the fact that aging is expected to accelerate between 2015 and 2030, with the 60+ population projected to increase at 12.7 percentage points per year during that period.

China remains out of the top five in terms of the pace of aging for the time being. However, due to the sheer size of its population, China accounts for the largest number of old (60+) persons in the world with more than 200 million (second largest is India with approximately 100 million)  and as such, it needs to begin addressing the issue sooner rather than later.

In order to foster discussions on the issue of aging population and lay the groundwork in finding common solutions, KDI School and the Chinese Academy of Governance (CAG) along with the World Bank co-hosted the “KDIS-WB-CAG Policy Forum: Aging Society” from October 17 to 22, 2016 at CAG, Bejing.

Professors Taejong KIM, Seulki CHOI, and Shun WANG were featured extensively at the Forum, either as moderators or presenters. Professor KIM moderated session 1 on day 1, “An Overview of Aging Society”, followed by Professor WANG who gave an intriguing presentation on “China’s Demographic Change into Aging Society”. Meanwhile, Professor WANG moderated session 3 on day 2, “Aging Society and Policy Responses: Case of China and Korea”, and Professor CHOI gave his presentation on “Family Planning Policy for Changing Family Structure”. Professor KIM led various sessions for the rest of the Forum, giving a presentation on “Socio-economic Policies for Distributional Improvement and Social Cohesion” as well as leading the wrap-up session and the closing session. The common thread among various “solutions” to address aging population was the fact that governments and societies must develop policies and strategies well in advance i.e. before the population reaches an aging society status.

But more importantly, the Forum was an opportunity for KDI School students to work in an international setting and interact with participants from CAG. 26 KDI School students travelled to China for the Forum which featured discussion sessions and site visits to organizations and venues relevant to aging population (Sijiqing Homes for the Elderly, China National Working Committee on Aging etc.).

Regarding the Forum, one participating student commented that, “This program significantly broadened my knowledge about aging society issues and policy options to tackle it, especially I gained better perspectives of China, in terms of culture, politics, and attitude towards the elderly.” However, students asked for more CAG participants to attend the Forum and engage in group discussions. Also, students wanted more case studies showing the effects of aging population policies to be addressed in the presentations.

Aging population is an inevitable outcome for all societies. As such, KDI School intends to continue strengthening its ties with CAG and the World Bank to further its dialogue on the issue and seek solutions that might help address various problems stemming from an aging population.

By Michael MUGISHA [2015 MDP, Uganda]