Population Aging

summary term that is used to describe for shifts in

the age structure of a population toward people of older ages.

Population aging is expected to be among the most prominent global demographic trends of the twenty-first century.

in population is the most common measure of population aging

A society is considered to be relatively old when the fraction of the population aged 65+ years exceeds 8-10%
According to this definition, the populations of the Eastern Europe and Russia are becoming very old, because the percentage of elderly people reached the levels of 14.2% and 13.8% respectively in 2005

for old age (65 years and over) is rather arbitrary

Many demographers who study FSU and Eastern European countries also use 60 years cut-off (retirement age for many countries of FSU and the Eastern Europe).
In this case a population is considered to be old, when the proportion aged 60+ years exceeds 10-12%

over per 100 youths under age 15
Sometimes referred to

as the elder-child ratio
In 1975 all countries of the Eastern Europe had more youth than elderly (aging index below 100). Now all of them except Moldova have more elderly than youth.

at which exactly half the population is older and another

half is younger.

Median age is an indicator based on statistical measure of location (sometimes mean and modal ages of population are also used)

the age distribution of population is often very irregular, reflecting

the scars of the past events (wars, economic crises etc.), and it cannot be described just by one number without significant loss of information.

has the greatest role in causing population aging
Population aging

happens because the declining fertility (birth) rates make recent cohorts smaller than the preceding ones, thus tilting the age distribution towards older ages.

decline of fertility in FSU countries during the transition period
Currently

all countries of the Eastern Europe demonstrate fertility below the average European level

on population aging in the opposite directions.
The first component

is the mortality decline among infants, children and relatively young persons, having age below the population mean. This component of mortality decline is acting against population aging, because its effects (saving young lives) are similar to effects of increased fertility

expectancy is related to a new trend of mortality decline,

which had emerged after the 1950s in the developed countries -- an accelerating decrease in mortality rates among the oldest-old (85+ years), and the oldest-old women in particular
This second component of mortality decline, which is concentrated in older age groups, is becoming an important determinant of population aging (women in particular) in industrialized countries (population aging “from the top”).

immigrants tend to be younger.

In Russia immigration during the

1990s partially alleviated the effects of population aging

as it is observed now in many FSU countries nations

(like Moldova).

Many FSU countries (with exception of Russia, Belarus and recently Kazakhstan) lose young population due to migration

population aging in rural regions of European North and Center

(due to out-migration of youth) and slow down it in big cities like Moscow.
Rural population in Russia is older than urban population despite higher fertility.
Population aging is particularly prominent among rural women in Russia.
While the proportion of women aged 65+ in Russia is 16 percent, some regions of Central and North-Western Russia have population of older women that exceeds 30 percent

young adult mortality accelerated population aging

On the other hand, immigration

and declining child and infant mortality helped to alleviate the effects of population aging

young compared to other European countries including countries of the

Eastern Europe.
Currently Russia does not age rapidly but this situation will change after 2010 when numerous postwar generations reach age 60, which will result in a rapid aging of the Russian population.

old" (people aged 80 and over) are now the fastest

growing portion of the total population in many countries including Europe

In FSU countries this process did not reach significant proportions

growth due to a rising share of working age people

in a population.
This usually occurs late in the demographic transition when the fertility rate falls and the youth dependency ratio declines.
During this demographic window of opportunity, output per capita may rise.