TY - JOUR
T1 - Aging in Mexico
T2 - Population trends and emerging issues
AU - Angel, Jacqueline L.
AU - Vega, William
AU - López-Ortega, Mariana
AU - Pruchno, Rachel
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank the Conference Series on Aging in the Americas, NIH/NIA grant # 2R13AG029767-06 administered by The University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center for their support.
Funding Information:
SAGE (and substudies) supported by the National Institute on Aging, US National Institutes of Health (NIA BSR), through Interagency Agreements (OGHA 04034785; YA1323-08-CN-0020; Y1-AG-1005-01) with WHO, and Research Project Grants R01AG034479 and R21AG034263 Some governments have also contributed financial and/or in-kind support to the implementation of SAGE in their respective countries
Funding Information:
Supported by the National Institutes of Health/ National Institute on Aging (R01AG018016), and by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico PI: Wong, R.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Although all nations in the America's face a common demographic reality of longevity, declining fertility rates and changes in family roles a growing body of research points to a dramatic demographic transformation in Mexico. Although Mexico's population is relatively young, with a median age of 27.9 in 2015, it will age rapidly in coming years, increasing to 42 years by 2050. The rapid median age in the nation also reflects the growing proportion of people 65 or older, and is expected to triple to 20.2% by 2050. This article examines how the age and gender structure of Mexico offers important insights about current and future political and social stability, as well as economic development. Mexico is the world's eleventh largest country in terms of population size and the "demographic dividend" of a large youthful population is giving way to a growing older population that will inevitably place demands on health care and social security. The shift in age structure will result in increased dependency of retirees on the working-age population in the next 20 years. Mexico does not provide universal coverage of social security benefits and less than half of the labor force is covered by any pension or retirement plan. As a result, elderly Mexicans often continue working into old age. The high total poverty rate in the country, especially among the older population magnifies the problem of the potential dependency burden. The article ends with a discussion of key public policy issues related to aging in Mexico.
AB - Although all nations in the America's face a common demographic reality of longevity, declining fertility rates and changes in family roles a growing body of research points to a dramatic demographic transformation in Mexico. Although Mexico's population is relatively young, with a median age of 27.9 in 2015, it will age rapidly in coming years, increasing to 42 years by 2050. The rapid median age in the nation also reflects the growing proportion of people 65 or older, and is expected to triple to 20.2% by 2050. This article examines how the age and gender structure of Mexico offers important insights about current and future political and social stability, as well as economic development. Mexico is the world's eleventh largest country in terms of population size and the "demographic dividend" of a large youthful population is giving way to a growing older population that will inevitably place demands on health care and social security. The shift in age structure will result in increased dependency of retirees on the working-age population in the next 20 years. Mexico does not provide universal coverage of social security benefits and less than half of the labor force is covered by any pension or retirement plan. As a result, elderly Mexicans often continue working into old age. The high total poverty rate in the country, especially among the older population magnifies the problem of the potential dependency burden. The article ends with a discussion of key public policy issues related to aging in Mexico.
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U2 - 10.1093/geront/gnw136
DO - 10.1093/geront/gnw136
M3 - Article
C2 - 27927730
AN - SCOPUS:85027398648
VL - 57
SP - 153
EP - 162
JO - The Gerontologist
JF - The Gerontologist
SN - 0016-9013
IS - 2
ER -