![]() ![]() The consequences for health care are obvious. Industries will need to rethink their business model. A rethink of migration policies is always sensitive: Angela Merkel lost support in Germany after letting 1.5 million Syrian refugees in, and yet, intelligent immigration policies are required, even though they will be accompanied by social tensions on account of the different races, languages and ethnicities of the migrants. Governments across the world, especially in the First World, where life expectancy has touched 80, must rethink their 60 to 65 year retirement ages to manage the pension burden. What does this demographic transition require of governments, industries, and companies? When I started work in 1982, the retirement age in India was 58, at a time when the national life expectancy was just 54. The global age demographics today count 1.5 billion people over 65 the fastest growing age group in the world is over 100. The population of Japan, Italy, Germany, and China are all in decline. The same will be true for many of those born in Africa. Many of these children will be malnourished, poorly educated and with patchy access to health care. In India, the bulk of the rise is set to come from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Eight countries will account for this rise, and other than India, all the other seven are in Africa. The global population will continue to expand, cross nine billion by 2040, and reach its peak of 10 billion by 2070. The average age in Africa is 17, India is 27, China is 38.4, the United States is 38.5, Europe is over 40 (with Germany and Italy in the mid-forties, the United Kingdom and France not far behind), and Japan in its own league at 48. If we look at the spread of average age, the data is both stark and scary. The world’s population has topped eight billion. (Reuters)Īs I write this, India is set to overtake China and become the most populous country in the world. Company cultures will need to foster a lifelong learning mindset as working lives expand to 50 years. PREMIUM The search for young talent may give way to reskilling experienced employees. However, what was ignored was the massive demographic transition underway in the world. All companies need to evaluate the concentration risk in the feedstock they import, test the resilience of their supply chains, analyse the investments needed for their net-zero commitments, and check the adoption of digital and data in every aspect of their business. The shiny new object was the potential of ChatGPT, both good and bad. CEOs at the World Economic Forum repeatedly highlighted three trends – the unfolding geopolitics the inescapable challenge of global warming and the need for companies to strengthen their net-zero commitments and the accelerating Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution and its pervasive presence across businesses. With a calming budget behind us, I want to shift focus to a megatrend that got no attention in Davos this year. ![]()
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