Understanding aging in Korea

"This study discusses demographic trends, sociocultural characteristics, and policy choices of aging in [South] Korea.... Although the proportion of the elderly was not so high as to worry about aging before 1990, it is projected that one in eight Koreans will be aged 65 or more in 2020. Because the care for the elderly is mostly expected to be provided by each family, not by the state or Korean society, the role of the family is pivotal in coping with [the] aging problem.... Although adult children currently understand that their aged parents need assistance and support from them, they want to solve the issue of support for the elderly in a way different from the traditional.... This paper examines how the changing attitude toward the old is reflected in family life in terms of living arrangement and physical contacts. This paper also describes and discusses the current situation of various welfare policies on the elderly in Korea."     

Living Arrangement and Life Satisfaction of the Elderly in South Korea

With a rapid aging population in South Korea, the elderly living alone has received particular attention from researchers and stakeholders. Although previous research has found that living alone negatively affects life satisfaction of the elderly, much remains unclear about how life satisfaction of the elderly changes over time as their living arrangement change. To advance knowledge on life satisfaction of the elderly, using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging we tested the association between life satisfaction (overall life, health, and financial) of the elderly and their living arrangement. Our longitudinal research found that the elderly living with family had significantly higher life satisfaction compared to those living alone between 2006 and 2016. In addition, individuals who had a superior economic profile and maintained physical activity and social relations showed higher life satisfaction than their counterparts. Our findings suggest that to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly living alone, both material and psychological support programs are needed. Future research is needed to account for the multi-faceted nature of life satisfaction.

     

Korean patterns of women's labor force participation during the period, 1960-1980

"This article investigates how the patterns of Korean women's labor force participation have changed during the 1960s and the 1970s, [periods] of rapid economic development and social changes. The discussion focuses on the comparison of three sets of cross-sectional data derived from the 1960, 1970 and 1980 [Republic of Korea] censuses. Although not dramatic, the gross rates of women's labor force participation show an upward trend. A very high and rapidly increasing rate of rural women's labor force participation did not result in a big increase in the total rate because of the significant rise in the proportion of the population living in urban areas. However, the employment structure and patterns of women's labor force participation have changed significantly, especially in urban areas."     

Migration and population ageing: a case of Poland

The effect of internal migration on population aging in Poland is assessed, using data for the years 1950-1988. Trends are presented for the country as a whole, by individual voivodship, and for rural regions that have experienced rapid depopulation. The authors conclude that "internal migrations have no direct influence on the population's ageing process, and [are] insignificant. The influence grows in the spatial perspective; it becomes strongest in the case of migrations between urban and rural areas. Its intensity is best revealed in the...depopulation in rural areas."     

韩国人口老龄化过程及其启示

韩国人口老龄化的过程与中国有很多相似之处,经历了20世纪50年代的高生育率和死亡率降低、60年代以后的生育率下降直到目前的超低生育率,韩国人口在世纪之交快速进入老龄化阶段。预计初婚年龄的升高、持续的低生育率和育龄妇女数量的减少将会使韩国人口进一步老化。快速的人口老龄化已经为韩国社会带来了一系列的经济和社会问题,应对老龄化带来的挑战成为国家面临的重大问题。韩国的老龄化过程、现状以及采取相应的对策,将对中国具有启示意义。     

Using census data for household projections: an overview of results from the HOMES Project

"This article provides an overview of the household projection model HOMES [a computer model developed to forecast the number and characteristics of households] and presents new household projections for six countries--China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. The household projections are based on recently released population projections from The World Bank and on rules governing living arrangements quantified with the latest available census or demographic survey for each country. Growth in the number of households to the year 2030 is projected along with changes in household membership and the dependency burden."     

美国、日本、韩国应对人口老龄化的经验及其启示

世界人口规模不断扩大,年龄结构类型也趋于老年型。但是发达国家与发展中国家有明显差异。发达国家人口老龄化程度高于发展中国家。本文以美国、日本、韩国三国为例,在考察人口规模争人口老龄化状况的基础上,总结了这些国家应对人口老龄化的主要经验,即政府重视人口老龄化问题;制定相应法律法规、方针政策;积极引导社会共同参与;不断完善老年社会保障制度。结合国情提出了对我国应对人口老龄化问题有益的启示。     

我国婴儿死亡率的计算及其差异分析

婴儿死亡率常常被用采作为反映人口健康水平、社会经济及卫生服务水平,特别是妇幼卫生服务质量的敏感指标,同时,它对人口预测等一些关键性人口变量指标有着重要的影响,该指标计算的精准性具有特别重要的意义。本文认为,我国相关部门所公布的统计年鉴中均不同程度地高估了我国的婴儿死亡率。究其原因为三点：概念的理解偏差;统计口径的不同;登记制度缺陷。     

中国人口老龄化的地区聚类及影响因素分析

本文用离差平方和法对我国31个省、市、自治区2011年、2010年和2000年的人口老龄化相关变量（如老少比、年均人口净增长率等五个变量）进行Q型系统聚类分析,并用2011年的各类经济、社会变量对老少比进行主成分回归。研究发现：各地区依老龄化特点可以分为四类;影响老龄化程度的主要因素有社会发达程度、居民生活水平和性别比;近年来部分发达地区人口快速增长且持续老龄化,而人口流出严重的欠发达地区老龄化程度加剧。     

Minister Wang Wei on family planning policy and population aging

Mr. Wang Wei, Minister-in-Charge of the State Family Planning Commission, was interviewed by the correspondent of the magazine "Outlook Weekly" on the 16th of last July in Beijing. Mr. Wang Wei said that the aging process of China's population could not be separated from the family planning program which was an important factor leading to China's population aging. He also said that population aging in China would have its limit as any development does. The aging of China's population is the manifestation of the contradiction between the unplanned and planned reproduction of its population. Population aging will disappear as soon as the contradiction is settled. Since the aging of China's population is caused by the decrease of children, one cannot only see the social burden aggravated by the relative increase in elderly population but should also see the social burden alleviated by the decrease in the absolute number of children. Only by doing so can one see the whole picture. The allegation made by some people that the social dependency ratio would increase due to population aging is groundless. Mr. Wang Wei does not agree with the viewpoint that China may relax its policy of family planning to some extent on the ground that population aging causes the decrease in the total social dependency ratio so as to ease the difficulties brought about by the rapid population aging. The basic state policy of striving to quadruple the gross output value of industry and agriculture and to control China's population at about 1.2 billion at the end of the century is the correct policy to solve the problem of population aging in China, and it is also the only alternative.     

1982—2010年中国在业人口高龄化研究

由于人口生育率的急剧下降,中国人口不仅迅速老龄化,面临着“人口红利”消失等问题,同时还出现在业人口迅速高龄化的情况。导致在业人口高龄化的主要原因是人口年龄结构的变化,同时与劳动参与程度的改变、教育发展等因素有关。到目前为止,在业人口高龄化主要是出现在农民与工人两个职业中,其他职业的情况相对不太明显。随着长期的低生育水平的延续,在业人口高龄将继续严重,并且将从以农民、工人两个职业为主,转变为全面的在业人口高龄化。此现象对中国今后的社会经济发展有什么影响,值得深思。     

我国劳动力老化及其对社会经济发展影响的分析

目前,学界和政府决策者十分重视随着我国人口老龄化速度加快所引发的各个方面的问题,不过却极少关注在人口老龄化背景下劳动力老化所带来的种种后果,尤其是对未来社会经济发展的一系列影响。基于现有数据,分析我国劳动力老化的现状与特点,并预测21世纪上半叶劳动年龄人口结构及其老化的变动趋势。从劳动力老化对劳动生产率提高和产业结构调整两方面影响入手,探索劳动力老化对社会经济发展可能产生的一些负面影响,并提出对策性的思考与建议。     

韩国人口政策及其对中国农村人口政策的启示

韩国的人口政策经历了由控制人口增长的计划生育政策到鼓励人口增长的新人口政策的转变,成功控制了人口的快速增长。缓解了人口与经济、社会资源、环境之间的矛盾,但也引起了人口老龄化、出生婴儿性别比失调等一系列社会问题。这些社会问题如今也正在中国农村上演。如能借鉴立法先行、大力发展社会福利事业、善于运用经济杠杆等经验,对维持中国农村人口的低出生率,抑制出生婴儿性别比例失调和人口老龄化的加剧具有积极的意义。     

中、日、韩人口经济制度的阶段比较

中日韩三个国家因为地理、历史原因具有很强的发展趋同性,具有共同的人口经济发展阶段特征,引领着东亚经济快速发展。在人口经济制度方面正在进行或即将进行第四个发展阶段。经过研究认为契约关系是中日韩在人口经济制度发展变革中共同的认同点。从战略发展来看,及时调整各利益集团的利益合理分配、推动公共活动效率透明化是实现这一地区完成人口经济制度巨大变革的关键措施。     

Demographic Changes in North Korea: 1993–2008

Given the scarcity of population data, few demographic analyses have been conducted on population trends in North Korea. Using the 1993 and 2008 population and housing census data, we prospectively reconstruct population change in the country during the 15 intercensal years. Reconstruction of the population trends of North Korea enables us to assess the consistency of the available demographic evidence and to assess the demographic impact of the famine in the 1990s. According to the results of the population reconstruction and our counterfactual population projections, the famine caused between 240,000 and 420,000 total excess deaths—lower than the previous estimate of 600,000–1 million; and the human costs of the deteriorating living conditions between 1993 and 2008 may be estimated as 600,000 to 850,000 total excess deaths attributable to economic decline in the post‐Cold war era. The reconstructed population trends mirror the continuing deterioration of the living conditions in North Korea since the early 1990s.     

中国台湾地区人口老龄化与老年人社会保障

中国台湾地区人口老龄化过程时间短、速度快,地区间发展不平衡。在较短时间内完成人口年龄结构向老龄社会转型后,台湾地区面临人口政策的调整和老年人社会保障的巨大压力。现有的老年人社会保障制度难以适应社会发展的需要,台湾当局正在尝试新一轮的改革和调整。台湾地区人口老龄化较祖国大陆要早,其人口老龄化进程呈现出与祖国大陆较多的相似之处,加之相似的文化传统和价值观念使得研究台湾地区人口老龄化和老年人社会保障制度更具有借鉴意义。     

韩国的人口挑战及其应对措施

人口问题正成为韩国面临的一大挑战之一,韩国的人口趋势所呈现的特征为老龄化和低生育率。本文认为造成韩国人口状况的最根本因素是经济因素,工业化与计划生育是相伴进行的,而亚洲金融危机进一步加剧了韩国人口减少的趋势,由此将会对未来带来许多不利影响。韩国已经认识到问题的严重性,正采取措施以扭转这种状况。     

Sources of Population Aging in More and Less Developed Countries

We provide the first global assessment of the sources of population aging by tracing its origins to the demographic histories of more and less developed countries. In more developed countries, improvements in survival among successive cohorts have accounted for the large majority of the recent increase in the population's mean age. Improved survivorship and declines in the growth rate of births have made roughly equal contributions to the aging that is occurring in less developed countries. Aging is more rapid in less developed countries because the number of births has declined faster, with China and India making large contributions. Use of the proportion of the population above age 65, 70, or 75 as measures of aging produces results similar to those using the mean age. Mortality decline becomes an even larger contributor to aging using all these measures, and its contribution grows as age advances.     

遗属养老保险制度的机制设计研究

女性老龄人口特别是丧偶者面临更高的老龄贫困风险,老龄化背景下如何向更具脆弱性的丧偶独居女性老龄人口提供老龄收入保障,帮助其实现反贫困的目标是各国公共政策制定者面临的一项长期重要的挑战。遗属养老金的受益作为派生养老金权益的重要内容有利于阻止贫困和平滑消费,是帮助丧偶独居女性老龄人口反贫困的重要手段,世界各国普遍将其纳入强制性社会保障体系。但遗属养老保险制度可能带来对女性就业参与的不当激励,不公平的社会再分配效应及养老金财务支出负担增加等不利经济影响。对世界上30个主要国家和地区遗属养老保险制度机制设计的比较研究表明有必要通过良好的遗属养老保险制度机制设计来实现其阻止贫困的重要作用,尽可能降低其可能的负面经济影响。本文建议主要包括:合理确定遗属养老金的受益水平以切实满足遗属的生活支出需要;严格限定被保险人需满足的养老金缴费条件;严格限定受益遗属需满足的受益条件;加强遗属养老保险与老龄养老保险制度的立法衔接等。当前我国遗属养老保险制度是明显缺失的,未来我国在建立遗属养老保险制度的过程中有必要借鉴国际经验,优化机制设计,在充分发挥遗属养老保险制度对于丧偶女性老龄人口反贫困作用的同时将其潜在的负面经济影响降至最低。     

健康投资对人口老龄化的影响分析——基于人口均衡发展的视角

健康投入的快速增长将对人口老龄化发展产生重要影响。基于人口均衡发展的视角,研究发现,健康投入对老龄化的影响作用不仅仅体现在老年人口数量方面,还体现于老年人口的结构,诸如年龄、性别、城乡状况等方面,进而会使未来的老龄化社会出现规模老龄化、高龄老龄化、性别失衡老龄化以及农村健康不安全老龄化等新的特征,我国老龄化问题亦将由数量压迫型向数量增长和结构失衡并存型转变。而对老年人口实施健康和人力资源管理,推进城乡健康公平则是应对未来老龄化问题的重要举措。