Publication: Searching for a New Silver Age in Russia: The Drivers and Impacts of Population Aging, Overview Report
Date
2015-09-01
ISSN
Published
2015-09-01
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
Russia’s population is expected to age
significantly over the next few decades. The coming decline
in Russia’s working-age population will pose serious social
and economic challenges, but it can also open up
opportunities. Without adequate adjustments of policies and
behaviors, an aging population can impair national growth
and fiscal sustainability. These pessimistic forecasts,
however, are based on the unrealistic assumption that
individuals and government policy will not change. Achieving
healthy, active, and prosperous aging will require policy
changes across a host of areas. Policies to support women
can both limit population aging and increase labor force
participation. Changes in behavior and policy can greatly
mitigate the impact of aging on growth and fiscal
sustainability. Promoting adult education and better
age-management human resources policies at the firm level is
essential to improve the employment prospects for older
workers and raise productivity across the age spectrum. This
volume presents research from the World Bank on the impact
of demographic trends in Russia. The first section focuses
on the macroeconomic impacts of aging and considers how
aging has affected gross domestic product (GDP) growth and
convergence among Russian regions since the early 1990s; it
also offers alternative approaches to forecasting the
relationship between aging and growth. The second section,
dealing with the relationship of human development outcomes
and demographics, discusses how family policies can help
women have more children, and still attain greater and
longer participation in the labor force. The last part
addresses the role of adult education in improving Russia’s
competitiveness and enabling longer and more productive
working lives. A final section pulls together the main conclusions.
Citation
“World Bank. 2015. Searching for a New Silver Age in Russia : The Drivers and Impacts of Population Aging, Overview Report. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22611 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”