Aging Populations 'Big Economic Risk' To Ex-Soviet States

That's the message of a new World Bank report that warns that the entire region's economic progress could come to a grinding halt by 2025, unless governments act quickly to institute reforms.

One of its authors, Gordon Betcherman, said populations across the region were aging -- and shrinking -- as fertility rates dropped and people lived longer, thanks to higher incomes and better health conditions.

He said this put an enormous strain on countries where the working-age population is shrinking and where pension and health-care systems are already not functioning well.

But he said countries could still avoid economic catastrophe if they took urgent action on several fronts -- getting more people into work, improving the business climate, and ensuring their labor forces were better educated and skilled.

FURTHER READING
An Aging Problem The World Bank's Gordon Betcherman says countries can avoid economic catastophe -- if they act now. more	Russia's Demographic Crisis Russia's population is declining fast thanks to a low birth rate, short life expectancy, and high death rates from accidents, suicides, and disease..more