SORU: aşağıdaki parçaya göre cevaplayınız
It is obvious from the passage that population aging is of great importance, mainly due to ----.
Lower birth-rates and longer lives lead to population
aging, which matters for many reasons, but first and
foremost because of the costs of retirement. These
costs are borne principally by the government and
funded through taxes on the working-age population.
The old-age-dependency ratio – that is, the population
aged 65 and over divided by the population aged 15 to
64 – is a key indicator of population aging. Other things
being equal, the tax rate for pensions will be
proportional to this ratio. In the developed world, this
ratio rose from .12 in 1950 to .21 today, and is
estimated to increase to .44 in 2050. If, in the
developed countries, the elderly in 2050 are to receive
the level of benefits given to the current elderly, then
the level of payroll taxes needed to fund government
pensions will more than double by 2050. Due to higher
fertility and immigration, the US population is projected
to remain younger than those of other OECD countries,
and the pension problem will be less severe. Health
costs, however, pose an even more difficult problem
due to the socialized health-care system for the elderly
in the US. As the population ages and spending per
elderly person rises, government spending on health
care will likely soar.