Dependency rising with fewer workers to support more seniors

Denver

THE world's working-age population is shrinking faster than expected, leaving fewer people to support a growing number of seniors, according to the Bloomberg Sunset Index.

Conventional measures of old-age dependency calculate the ratio of people ages 65 and older with those of working age: 15 to 64. But many people stop working well before 65: Men in 66 per cent of the 178 countries Bloomberg evaluated and women in 78 per cent can begin receiving retirement benefits earlier.