News Brief

Prof. Leela Visaria presented a seminar on "Impact of Changing Population Age Structure of Asian Countries on Labour Market" at Lakdawala Hall, GIDR.

News in brief:
Sixty percent of world’s estimated total population of 7.3 billion today lives in Asian countries, which occupy 30 percent of Earth’s land area. Asia’s population (including Arab countries) will increase from 4 billion in 2010 to 4.8 billion by 2035. But temporal variations in the onset of fertility decline in the Asian countries have resulted in wide variations in their age structure. Some Asian countries (such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh in South Asia) have proportionately large young population entering labour force and have potential to reap benefits emanating from young age structure. On the other hand countries like Japan and Korea with large proportion of aged have to think of innovative measures to stay vibrant and productive in the coming years. In this background, the data for selected Asian countries to understand the implications of the changing population age and sex composition for the structure of their labour force and the impact on the labour market is analysed. Finally, policy issues emanating from the changing population structure, including feasibility of migration of young workforce from the poorer countries to the rich countries, will be discussed.