With the improvements in today’s health care, society has to care for more and more elderly people. Do you feel that society will be able to cope with the increase in numbers of elderly people today and how can it be managed? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

In current

society

, the life expectancy in western countries has increased significantly.

Also

, fewer babies are being born, causing the relative percentage of elderly people to increase. These people have to be taken

care

of, causing the question to arise whether

this

number of elderly people can be cared for. When people grow older, they can

also

develop more

health

issues, resulting in more visits to doctors and hospitals, and an increased usage of pharmaceuticals. Due to the current large numbers of elderly people, the pressure put onto

health

care

systems is increasing. In many western countries, the state provides most of the

health

care

system.

Therefore

, with increasing numbers of old people, higher percentages of state funding have to be allocated to

health

care

and

this

could cause shortfalls in other areas,

for example

education.

This

change in the distribution of money can

therefore

impact

society

negatively.

Society

should be able to handle these changes. Governments will have been able to predict the changing demographic situations in their countries and plan

accordingly

.

This

might indeed lead to other sectors in

society

having money taken away from them, but caring for the elderly is one of the key responsibilities of today’s governments. For the future, it might be necessary to ensure that an extra insurance charge is levied on people’s salaries in order that any future financial shortfall is met.

This

would be unpopular, but would allow governments to have the necessary funds available. In conclusion,

society

today and in the future should be well able to deal with caring for their elderly. It is only a question of

care

full long-term forecasting and planning.