Mohammad Taghi Sheykhi
Professor Emeritus of Sociology Alzahra University, Tehran
The present paper analyzes different demographic variables to reach the result of how population become aged in different parts of Asia. Policies and planning of population during the past decades have contributed to more life expectancy, leading to the aging of population in countries like Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and to some extent Iran. Population in some countries aging without needs gradually emerging, being met. People usually at the age of seventy and over lose their normal strengths and potentialities. Many of their capabilities are lost. They gradually become dependent on other younger age groups. Western countries usually have made better policies and plans earlier, and because of that, their aging people have better immunity as far as their health, social and economic conditions are concerned. Many aging people in Asian countries are concerned about their needs during the age of 70 and over. Decline in birth rate is the most important factor positively affecting the aging of population after a few decades has passed. The same happened to Japan, China, South Korea etc. Many Western countries started narrowing their birth rates in the nineteenth century, whereas Asian countries started that since around 1950. Earlier, women used to give birth to 7-8 children, in which half or more of them died in infancy, and the rest who survived, had to face malnutrition, shortage of education, child-labor from the age of 7-8, maternal fatality of mothers and many more unfavorable conditions that affected their lives. While the average age of marriage is between 26-29 in the West, it is usually the age of 20 or below within many developing countries.
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Aims and Scope