Except for Japan, Asian countries have not yet aged as much as European countries, but that said, they are set to age at a much faster rate. In Singapore, the percentage of the population aged over 65 will treble between 2005 and 2030. The combination of much longer life expectancies and very low fertility rates will result in much smaller, and older, workforces; and societies will have to deal with much larger dependent populations.

A key lesson that Asia can learn is related to pension schemes. Jones says that countries need to consider shifting away from the current pay-as-you-go system that many currently have - where pensions are paid out of current taxes. “As the elderly population gets bigger, that becomes a tougher and tougher burden on the working population. But if, as people go through the workforce, they are contributing ahead for their own expenses - an income contributory approach - then that’s not putting the burden on a particular group in the workforce.”

Jones says the ‘crisis’ of pension systems can be dealt with if the labour force participation rate is increased and people work five years longer. “The fact is that the elderly can remain productive. In many countries, the age at retirement tends to be too early,” says Jones. Figures from the UK show that, on average, men retiring at 64 spend 31 per cent of their lives in retirement, as opposed to the situation in 1950, when a man retiring at 67 would have spent 18 per cent of his life in retirement.

In order to maintain the quality of the workforce, it will be important to invest in training and retraining of older segments of the working population.

Not only can the elderly contribute to the workforce, but, Jones says, “they can also be productive in all sorts of other ways: in the community, through voluntary work, within the family, and through their role in looking after their grandchildren.”

Gabriele Sinigoj of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna took part in the Healthcare2020 forum at INSEAD’s Europe campus last year. She was founder, convenor and organiser of the conference, "The Impact of Ageing: A Common Challenge for Europe and Asia", in Vienna, June 2006 and is currently editing the second edition of book ‘The Impact of Ageing - A Common Challenge for Europe and Asia’.

Gavin Jones is a professor at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.