Impact of Ageing Society on urban planning & urbanization

[Audio] Hi today I will go through more in-depth about the impact of Aging Society on Urban Planning & Urbanization in Singapore.

[Audio] First, I will start off with the introduction. Singapore is facing an aging population due to the increased life expected of people and the low birth rate. And Singapore is one of the countries with the lowest fertility rate of 1.15 children per woman. Before 2035, around one-third of Singaporeans are estimated to be age 65 and above, and the median age of Singaporeans is expected to rise from 39.7 in 2015 to 53.4 in 2050. This demographic shift adds pressure on Singaporean society as a shrinking workforce struggles to support an aging population..

[Audio] Next will be the 2 main impacts of the Ageing Population in Singapore which is.

[Audio] Increase Expenditure on Health and Long-term Care, and Labor Force Shortages.

[Audio] Now, I will talk about the first impact Increase Expenditure on Health and Long-term Care.

[Audio] Elderly people tend to have more healthcare needs and more complex healthcare services. As aging will cause elderly people to be infected with chronic diseases like heath diseases and stroke..

[Audio] This brings pressure on the government in ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare services. Such as generating more healthcare resources by building more nursing homes and hospitals..

[Audio] With reference to the MOH statistics, Singapore National Health Expenditure may increase to 43 billion in 2023. Both public and private healthcare spending can contribute to 5.9% to 9.0% of Singapore's GDP. This means that there's a high demand from the local population for the healthcare service and high spending from the government to provide this healthcare service..

[Audio] The rising cost of healthcare in the aging population is not being cover feasibility by the labor and income taxes of the younger population. Costing in the healthcare sector will cause economic resources in Singapore to shift into this informal sector. The economic productivity and educational investment will be badly affected due to this reallocation of resources. This means that the only feasible approach for financing health care spending will be the consumption of tax..

[Audio] Increased demand for healthcare services also causes a shortfall in the supply of healthcare workers in Singapore, which will direct us to the next impact Labour Force Shortages.

[Audio] The aging population also indicates that there will be lesser working-age adults working in the economy. This leads to shortage in the supply of qualified workers, which cause difficulties for business to source for people to fill in the high-demand roles. When Singapore faces more and more demand for labor, the economy will have adverse consequences, such as decline in productivity, high labor costs, delay in the expansion of businesses. Which eventually leads to reduce in international competitiveness..

[Audio] Wage increases due to the shortage in supply may cause issues such as wage inflation and create a vicious cycle for wage spiral..

[Audio] Next will be the solution of the impact. Blue arrows pointing at a red button.

[Audio] To mitigate the issue with Increase Expenditure on Health and Long-term Care, the government had implemented CPF..

[Audio] By "forcing" us to save early with the use of CPF. Which is a compulsory saving scheme where Singaporeans and PR can retire without the need for the government to introduce expensive old-age pensions. This can further save the government money and invest more in the other sector of the economy..

[Audio] To mitigate the issue with Labour Force Shortages, Singapore's government welcome foreign talent to the country to ensure our labour face is well supplied..

[Audio] For example, the current government is employing foreign nurses by providing them with Employment or S Pass. However, MOH is working with MOM closely to provide more flexibility in the work pass framework to ensure the healthcare sector meets the current demand. MOH also works with public healthcare institutions to ensure the salaries competitiveness in the healthcare sector..

[Audio] To conclude, aging is still not that bad as it leads to more people to plan and start saving early for their retirement rather than relaying on the government, and aging also provides more job opportunities for people in the healthcare sector. The government also put in the effort to cater to this situation, for example, encourage the younger couples to birth to more children by providing monetary incentives to them..

[Audio] Here is the references. References. Source Reference https://www.sim.edu.sg/articles-inspirations/singapore-s-ageing-population-and-nursing-looking-to-the-future https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/singapore-healthcare#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Ministry%20of,9.0%25%20by%20that%20same%20time . https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011216/4-global-economic-issues-aging-population.asp https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/employment-pass-for-foreign-nurses.

[Audio] Thank you. Aerial view of a highway near the ocean.