Today due to advanced medicine, people are living longer. Therefore, the number of elders is expected to exceed that of young people. Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?

In
this
day and age, down to the blessing of contemporary medical science, human beings can live in
this
world for a longer period compared to the past.
Consequently
, the
number
of senior citizens would be larger than the
number
of youngsters has come along with a
number
of upsides, together with downsides.
However
, I wholeheartedly deem that having a large
number
of old
people
is more of a blow on the grounds that a
country
has to spend more money for taking care of them, and with a low
number
of workforces, it is
next
to impossible to complete in the ferocious global market. One of the predominant disadvantages of having a huge
number
of elderly
people
is that the government of a state needs to spend money on different facilities, especially, dedicated for them,
such
as building old age homes, providing special incentives for medical treatments, to name but a few. As a consequence, that
country
will face a shortage of funds for investing in more pressing social issues, namely, education, health, security, and suchlike, causing discontent among the public. To cite an example, in South Africa, the social benefit amount for the advanced age
people
is higher than the benefit amount for the unemployed
people
, resulting in the increasing
number
of violent activities.
Therefore
, the higher the
number
of elderly
people
, the higher will be governments’ investment in the unproductive field, engendering many social issues. Another decisive downside of having a low
number
of young
people
is that a nation cannot compete in the dog-eat-dog world with these human resources.
In other words
, if a
country
has a large
number
of adolescents, it is possible to boost the economy by applying their state-of-the-art knowledge, expertise, skills, to mention but a few, leading a
country
to become a developed and independent state.
On the contrary
, with a large
number
of unproductive elderly
people
, it is not possible to develop new things and compete with other countries. To exemplify, China has become the leader of all other states only because of productive juveniles. In conclusion, having a large
number
of elderly
people
indubitably results in numerous drawbacks.
Hence
, from my point of view, the edges, if there is any, are far outweighed by the downsides.
Submitted by shawlin90 on

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Writing9 with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Topic Vocabulary:
  • longevity
  • geriatric population
  • intergenerational
  • volunteering
  • medical advancements
  • economic contribution
  • cultural perspective
  • healthcare expenditures
  • age-friendly
  • ageism
  • public policies
  • demographic shifts
  • economic stability
What to do next:
Look at other essays: