An Aging World: 2008
"...One purpose of this report, then, is to look at past, current, and projected numbers, proportions, and growth rates of older populations. Older populations also have increased because of worldwide improvements in health services, educational status, and economic development. The characteristics of older people are likely to be increasingly heterogeneous within nations. A second purpose of An Aging World: 2008 is to summarize socioeconomic statistics for both developed and developing nations. Comparable data are included for as many as 52 nations when the categories
are reasonably consistent. In 2008, these 52 nations (Appendix Table B-1) contained 77 percent of the world’s total population and are referred to as “study countries” at various points in the text..."