Term 3 Week 4: READING TASK 4

In your view, what are the likely political and socio-economic impacts of the demographic changes we see in the world today?

Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from the video “World in the Balance” as well as your own knowledge and experience.



Due to demographic changes such as ageing populations, pestilences and spread of life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, countries suffer backlashes on their economies, and citizens also lose their confidence in a country's ability to handle problems. We all know that such problems are the reasons why world leaders, for one, are those that were chosen due to their great foresight. Perspicacious leaders ensure that the impacts of demographic changes are kept to a minimum, and also place measures in order to curb problems as soon as they occur. Why? Because demographic changes impact the country in ways that war cannot. Epidemics, diseases, gender imbalance, all these factors are subversive to a country's well-being.

Diseases such as AIDS have plagued third-world countries since they first surfaced. The reason for which is simple. The country is so poor that it cannot afford to improve living conditions for the citizens, which leads to problems such as poor sanitization and housing conditions. These, coupled with the fact that the citizens are poorly-educated and thus do not understand the implications of contracting the disease, lead to an exacerbation of the problems which come down twice as hard on the government. It is imperative for the problems to be solved, but at times, this is as tough as trying to achieve the impossible. Therefore, we can see that demographic changes affects the society by manifesting the weaknesses of a country such as its financial capabilities and also, its leadership.

Political impact is obvious. When a country is set back by a problem such as the ageing population in Britain, it is up to the government to handle the problem. From the way it is managed, the abilities of the leader can be seen. How does it affect the politics in a country? For instance, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin drew flak from his citizens for several wrong decisions he made regarding the country's SARS outbreak. It placed his position and life in jeopardy, and he had to resign as a result.