SDA Member David Swanson's Concurrent Session has been accepted to be presented at the 47th Annual Conference conference of the Fulbright Association, taking place virtually on November 8 – November 9, 2024. The proposal was carefully reviewed by members of the Fulbright Association and the Conference Selection Committee, and it stood out as an excellent addition to the conference agenda!

This presentation is of a paper by David Swanson and Rich Verdugo: Population Aging in the Western Hemisphere: 2020 to 2050.

Session Title: Population Aging in the Western Hemisphere: 2020 to 2050 (SESS-4)

Session Date: Friday, November 8, 2024

Session Time: 2:15:00 PM - 3:00:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Session Format: Presentation - Live Zoom Style

Focus Area: Security and Diplomacy

Abstract: Aging populations have become a major focus in demographic research. We take a “macro” perspective on the future of population aging in a first-ever examination of the Western Hemisphere as a whole, which we have divided into four regions, The Caribbean, Central America, North America, and South America. We find that the Western Hemisphere is facing a substantial increase in the population aged 65 years and over. Although there is some variation across its four regions, the population in the Western Hemisphere aged 65 years and over is expected to more than double between 2020 and 2050, increasing from 121 million into 245 million by 2050, an increase of 124 million, (102%). Coinciding with the expected increases in the older population are decreases in both the pre-school (ages 0-4) and the school age population (ages 5-19). The pre-school population in the Western Hemisphere is expected to decline by 5.5 million (-7.4%) between 2020 and 2050 and the school age population by 18 million (-7.8%). We discuss some of the policy implications of these changes for the Western Hemisphere as a whole, its four regions and selected individual countries.