ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 26, 2001 (LSN.ca) - A major study released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies declares that global labor shortages, falling savings rates, declining asset values, escalating debt and a precipitous drop in military spending are likely to be the result of the aging of the population in the world’s major industrial nations. The study, conducted in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Commission, and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said exploding pension-age populations will combine with flat or declining labor forces to create the potential for significant fiscal shortfalls in the countries by 2010.
The CSIS Global Aging Initiative notes that labor shortages likely will slow economic growth rates. After 2025, growth is expected to average substantially less than one percent annually in Japan and Western Europe; and less than two percent annually in America and Canada.
The study is available at: http://www.csis.org