The retirement age in India needed to maintain the present status quo would have to be raised to 75, according to a study, the findings of which were released on the weekend.
The predictions about how the UK, US, Sweden, China and India would be affected by a dramatic growth in life expectancy were based on the assumptions that lifespan would increase in line with the present trend until 2010.
From then anti-ageing technologies would be available. Both would combine to push life expectancy and improve physical conditions.
In countries like China, Britain and America, the retirement age would in fact touch 85 to maintain the present ratio of working people to the retired. In Sweden, where the current life expectancy is the highest in the world even the age of 85 would be insufficient to maintain the ratio.
The retirement age in all these countries would have to be raised otherwise the economies, particularly like in India, would be unable to cope without making people work longer, said the study.
The new drugs for heart ailments and cancer and therapies would cause mortality to decline five times faster than historical rates between 2010 and 2030, before normal service was resumed. The team leader Prof Shripad Tuljapukar said governments must think creatively about how pensions systems might be managed in a world where routinely people lived for much longer than they do today.
{{/usCountry}}The new drugs for heart ailments and cancer and therapies would cause mortality to decline five times faster than historical rates between 2010 and 2030, before normal service was resumed. The team leader Prof Shripad Tuljapukar said governments must think creatively about how pensions systems might be managed in a world where routinely people lived for much longer than they do today.
{{/usCountry}}The British Government Actuary report predicts that by 2074, 1.2 million Britons will live up to 100, to receive letters of congratulations from the reigning monarch.
The number of Indians required to keep working is given in a table.
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Table:
2000 2050
1.02 bn population 1.85 bn population
1:10 (over-65 to working age) 4:5
24 median age 42 median age
Retirement age needed to maintain status quo 75