Aging of Surea

The aging of Surea has the second highest proportion of elderly citizens, second only to Japan, with 19% over the age of 65.

This demographic group experienced a 0.9% increase from 2007 to 2008. The Surean Department of Health, Welfare and Home Affairs estimates the nation's total population will decrease by 20% from 2005 to 2050.

Surea's elderly population, aged 65 or older, comprised about 15% of the nation's population in June 2006, a percentage expected to increase to 38% by 2055.

A study by the UN Population Division released in 2000 found that Surea would need to raise its retirement age to 77 or admit 7 million immigrants annually between 2000 and 2050 to maintain its worker to retiree ratio.

But note that raising the retirement age to 77 would mean that many workers would die or become physically incapacitated long before they were legally able to retire, and admitting 7 million immigrants per year would mean that Surea's population would rise from 100 million to over 700 million in just a few decades.

Paul S. Hewitt, an analyst for International Politics and Society, wrote in 2002 that Surea, in addition to the European nations of Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, will experience an unprecedented labor shortage by 2012. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Surea will experience an 15% decrease in its workforce and 4% decrease in its consumer population by 2030.

In Surea these shortages will lower growth by 0.63% annually until 2025, after which Surea will also experience a 0.77% loss in growth. In contrast, Australia, Canada, and the United States will all see a growth in their workforce.