Research question: the relationship between the ageing population in Singapore and globalization
In Goldin’s TED talk(2009), he suggests that globalization leads to dramatic change in technology and this will help us to support the aged. As he suggests, the world is ‘moving from population pyramids to what we might term population coffins’. Globalization works as the enzyme to the economic and cultural interactions between different groups of people.It stimulates the international cooperation in different realms and leads to great improvement in life expectancy of citizens. This prepare people to cope with the future challenges, like ageing population.
Ageing population generally refers to increasing proportion of senior citizens. A large proportion of resources ,which could be used to stimulate economy ,is used to provide life support and increase aged people’s life expectancy instead. This would simultaneously increase the burden of working population as they need to work harder to maintain the aged family members.Singapore faces increasing pressure of ageing population. According to the government report, the proportion of those aged 65 and above formed 11.7 percent of the citizen population by 2013, which used to be 7.8 percent in 2002(Population in brief ,2013). The old-age support ratio, which is the number of citizens in the working age band of 20 to 64 needed to support one older citizen, is decreasing rapidly. In 2000, average 8.4 Singaporean citizens were required to support one aged citizens. This data decreases as in 2003, average5.5 Singaporen citizens havd to support one aged citizens.(“Straits Times”,2013 Sep.).
The direct causes to the ageing population problem are rising life expectancy and declining birth rates(“Ageing Population”, Wikipedia,2014).With the globalization and the development of technology and medical science, people enjoy better life expectancy and medical service. Many incurable diseases are not longer nightmares for patients. With the better life quality, people generally live longer. Due to the inflow of western culture, the traditional Eastern Asian ideology about marriage and giving birth is altered. Traditionally, people in these countries used to believe getting marriage and having children are the most important events in people’s life. However,now people tend to remain single or do not give birth as they believe the children and marriage are the obstacles for their career. More and more women refuse to give birth or have children after 30 years old as they consider children as a burden in their life. Well-educated women prefer to delay marriage oandchildbirth or even choose to live a single life. Therefore, we can find that globalization is pushing Singapore the future ageing population.
Globalization is linked to the ageing population in Singapore to a large extent. It worsens the ageing population situation in Singapore. However, government can take advantage of the globalization effect which can help Singapore to relieve the population tension in the state.
Various strategies can help to solve or relieve the ageing population tension. Government can adopt policies to attract foreign talents and skilled workers to Singapore. As at December 2011, Singapore had 3.27 million citizens , and 0.54 million Permanent Residents . Singapore also had a non-resident population of 1.46 million who are working, studying or living in Singapore on a non-permanent basis,whereas Singapore’s total population was 5.26 million. (“Composition of Singapore’s total population”,2011).The inflow of the foreigners provides outstanding and sufficient workforce to ensure the economy prosperity in Singapore. This will lessen the burden for working Singaporean populations to raise the old people. However, the foreign talent policy is a controversial policy, as people worry about the problem caused by huge flow of foreign workers, like security , local people’s working opportunities, environment, housing and so on. After all, everything is a double-edged sword. How to use the foreign talent policy is still a challenge for the government to solve the ageing population problem.
Another solution would be the extension of the retirement or re-employment of the senior citizens. Singapore has adopted the Retirement and Re-employment Act(RRA)(Ministry of Manpower,2014), senior citizens and PRs are eligible for re-employment upon reaching the age of 62 if they have at least a satisfactory working performance and are medically fit. This solution will be more acceptable as people can earn more salary in these later years which will help themselves to achieve a better life. According to Goldin’s lecture, these aged citizens will be smarter and their knowledge and experience can prove valuable to society.However, this measure is welcomed by the skilled employees. Unlike the well-educated skilled employees who can sit in the office and do simple jobs, the less educated workers have to do physical jobs which can be harmful to their physical condition. I believe whether we use re-employment or extension of the retirement measure, we should choose on the premise of being harmless to citizens’ interest.
In conclusion, just like the old proverb says ‘The only one who can fix the problem is the one who created the problem’. More open policies to embrace globalization is the essential way for Singapore government to relieve the population imbalance tension. The ageing population problem is faced by people around the world. It can be a bomb to Singapore economy if it is not under control. Therefore, Singapore should be open to the world and remain confident in Singapore’s future.
Reference:
Videos on globalization:
Goldin, I. (2009, July). Navigating our global future . Retrieved from
Population in brief, Retrieved from
http://population.sg/population-in-brief/2013/#.Ux1kro2BQx4
Tessa.W ,Fast-ageing Singapore, fewer to support aged,Straits Times, Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/fast-ageing-singapore-fewer-support-aged-trend-worries-experts-2013092
Composition of Singapore’s total population,2011, Retrieved from
http://population.sg/resources/population-composition/#.UxifK42BQx4
Ministry of manpower,Retrieved from
http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/employment-rights-conditions/retirement/Pages/retirement.aspx
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