Greying Population

Definition

A greying population refers to a demographic trend where the median age of a population rises due to increasing life expectancy and/or declining birth rates.

Analogy

Think of a greying population like your favorite book series. At first, there are many new characters (births), but as the series goes on, fewer new characters are introduced (declining birth rates) and existing characters live longer (increasing life expectancy). This results in more older characters (older people) than younger ones.

Related terms

Ageing Population: This is when the proportion of older people within a society increases, often due to factors such as increased life expectancy or decreased fertility rates.

Dependency Ratio: The ratio of non-working-age individuals (those under 15 and over 64) to working-age individuals (those aged 15-64). It's used to measure the pressure on productive population.

Population Pyramid: A graphical representation showing the distribution of various age groups in a population, which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing.