The silver tsunami is coming.
By 2050, the number of people in the world over the age 60 will double, making up a fifth of the world’s population. Two-thirds of them will live in low-income and middle-income countries but health systems and economies worldwide will feel the strain.
Older people tend to have a disproportionate amount of health problems. A study in 2014 found people over 60 account for almost a quarter of the global disease burden, even though they only made up 12 percent of the world’s population.