Demography

Demographic change is arguably the most dramatic process of social change in Germany, Europe and in many countries throughout the world. Over the last 100 years, a steady improvement of medical care, nutrition and growing welfare have created the basis for an increasingly longer life span. As a consequence, people in Germany live 30 years longer on average than they did at the beginning of the 20^th century, which constitutes a great step forward. A comparable development is noticeable throughout Europe and in many countries worldwide. At the same time, many of those societies are faced with a marked decrease in births – the other side of demographic change.

While decreasing birth rates have already occurred more frequently in mankind’s history, the process towards a society with an increasing number of aged people is happening for the first time on such a broad scale. There are therefore no examples or experiences for dealing with this phenomenon.

It is true, so far it appears that a society in which more elderly or old people constitute a majority will look different than today’s. But this does not mean that we will necessarily live worse in such a society or that it would be less efficient - economically, socially or individually.

An ageing society offers great opportunities for opening up and developing growth markets connected with the demographic change. As demographic change is a global phenomenon, global markets will consequently emerge where German companies can assume a leading role by positioning themselves there early.

VDI/VDE-IT supports and assists this development under various projects:

Demography

Projects

Publications