Friday, August 27, 2010

Homework 7: Impact of an ageing population


Deadline: 5pm Sunday.



Do you best.


We went through the impact of a declining population in class. However, when a population ages, there are also negative consequences[Impacts] on Singapore.
Word of advice : Make sure you answer the question and show how each factor leads to a serious consequnce - has a negative impact on Singapore in some way. The negative nature of the outcome must be explained properly. Think....

Work in your pairs to draft a good explanation for this question:


There are 4 serious consequences of an ageing population for Singapore:
(a) Loss of competitiveness by Singapore.
(b) A weakened defence force
(c) Strain on the working population
(d) Increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly.


Explain how each of these factors about can impact Singapore in a negative manner.


Weigh all the factors and by defining the term "serious", explain also which is the most serious consequence of all and why.

Structure of answer:
Stand + definition of "serious" in the context of the question.

4 paragraphs - 1 paragraph per factor to show how each factor is a serious consequence of an ageing population.

AND

1 weighing paragraph

25 comments:

Grace and Indira said...

By:Indira(41) and Grace(5)
[Part 1]

I agree to a large extent that a weakened defense force is the most serious impact of the population decline.

A weakened defense for is when the defense force is not strong enough to withstand enemy invasion. When a population declines, it means that the number of babies being born is decreasing, and on the other hand, the number of old people is increasing. The defense force needs a lot of young people to fill in the army. When there is a decrease in the number of babies born, it means that there will not be enough young people to work for the army. An army needs young people, not old people, as young people are physically fit, and on the other hand, as a person gets older, his/her physical ability declines. Thus, when there is not enough young people to work for the army, Singapore’s defense force will weaken. When this happens, potential enemies might choose to invade Singapore, as Singapore will be an easy target. When this happens, Singapore’s future, survival and independence will be threatened. Hence, a weakened defense force is a serious impact caused by a declining population.

A declining population also affects Singapore’s competitiveness. Multi-national companies (MNCs) in Singapore need talented people of all ages. With a decline in population, this means that there is a lack of workers who are young and skilled to fill the positions in MNCs. When this happens, MNCs will not be able to continue their business because there are not enough people to run the business. Then, the MNCs may leave Singapore and move to another country in order to continue their business operations. Singaporeans that were previously employed by these MNCs will lose their job, and will subsequently lose their income. When they lose their income, they will not have enough money in order to take care of themselves (and their family) and live a healthy lifestyle. As there are possibly a lot of people working for the MNCs, many people will become poor, and there will be a reduction in quality of life because they don’t have enough money to survive. Hence, Singapore becomes a poor nation and a loss in competitiveness of Singapore is a serious impact cause by a declining population.

A decline in population will also cause a strain on the working population. When the population declines, the government will receive less income. This is because there will be less people to pay income taxes to the government, as elderly people do not have any income, and thus do not need to pay income taxes. When the government’s income decreases, the government will increase the rate of income tax in order to have sufficient money to take care of the various needs of the citizens, such as; housing, healthcare, education and infrastructure development. The working population will then have to pay more tax, and therefore have less money to spend on themselves and their family. When this happens, there is a possibility that the quality of life in Singapore will decrease, and hence this is a serious impact caused by a declining population

Grace and Indira said...

By:Indira(41) and Grace(5)
[Part 2]

A decline in population means that there the number of babies born is decreasing and the number of elderly people is increasing. Elderly people are more vulnerable to sickness compared to young people, and thus get sick more often. When the number of elderly people increases, there will be a need for more healthcare and nursing services in order to keep the elderly people healthy. This means that the amount of money used by the government for healthcare increases. As the amount of money spent by the government is limited, when the amount of money used for healthcare increases, the amount of money used for other services such as education, housing, infrastructure and defense will decrease. When this happens, the quality of service of education, housing, infrastructure development and defense will decrease, and therefore an increased demand for healthcare and nursing services is a serious impact caused by a declining population.

In conclusion, the most serious impact of a population decline must be the one which can cause the most damage to Singapore and affect Singapore’s independence. Therefore, the most serious impact of a population decline must be a weakened defense force, as it can affect Singapore’s independence. Loss in competitiveness of Singapore, a strain on the working population and demand for healthcare and nursing service will only affect Singapore’s economical condition, but it will not affect Singapore’s independence. Therefore, the only factor that qualifies for this is a weakened defense force, and therefore I agree to a large extent that a weakened defense force is the most serious impact of a population decline.

emillio said...

The serious consequences mentioned means that it would damage Sngapore's future drastically.
I agree to a large extent tht a weakened defence will cause the most serious consequence.

A weakened defece force would mean that an army is not as strong as it used to be.As a result of an ageing population,there will be a lack of young men who are physical fit enough to offer a credible defence. Potential enemies(terrorists) may feel that Singapore is an easy target and decide to invade us. Singapore’s survival and independence would be threatened. We would cease to become a nation and suffer as an occupied country.

The loss of competitiveness caused by the ageing population is a serious consequence for Singapore. In Singapore, with the increasing numbers of elderly people, there would be fewer people who are economically productive. This causes a decrease in number of the people who are economically productive. There would be a tremendous decrease in the contributions to Singapore to allow it to develop. This means that Singapore will be a backward nations. Hence, it will be damaging to Singapore’s future and survival.
Another consequence would be increased stain on working people. In Singapore, there are increasingly more elderly people and fewer young people below 65 years who are economically productive. There would be fewer younger people supporting the older people in each family and across the nation. With fewer younger people, the government collects lesser tax from workers. Since less tax is collected,the government will have less money to spend on national needs. working kids of the elderly also have to take care of them. There would be financial strain on them as they have to care for the financial, medical and other needs of their parents who may be dependent on them. Hence, it will be damaging to Singapore’s future and survival and Singapore's economy will falter.

The increased demand for health care services caused by the ageing population is another consequence. As the elderly people are not physical fit and are prone to illnesses due to old age, they would need more health care services to curb their rising numbers of illness. This meant that there will be reduced resources to meet up with the increased demand for health care services, as other resources are redeployed to meet with other needs of the people. Hence, with the decrease in resources to meet with the health care services, Singapore's other areas like Housing and Tourism cannot be developed further. This will cause Singapore to suffer.

Anonymous said...

One impact for an ageing population is that it will weaken Singapore's defense force.Due to the declining birth rates , there would be fewer young and fit men to recruit for National service this would weaken Singapore's defence force as people expect that with the declining birth rates our army men will be decreased by half as the aging population means that the older men are not fit enough to be recruited and thus they cannot help to protect singapore.This is very serious as with a weak defense force,other countries would not be afraid of us and thus they think that they will be able to defeat us and take over our country.Thus an ageing population can cause Singapore to lose its independence and freedom as an aging population will make Singapore too weak to be able to defend themselves against enemies.
Another impact of an aging population is that an aging population means that more resources have to be used to take care of this increasing number of senior citizens and thus it would increase the strain on the working population as the taxes the working population is paying helps the senior citizens.With a aging population there would be more senior citizens that needs help and thus the working population has got to contribute more to help the senior citizens.Thus an ageing population can be an impact as it will cause a strain on the working population.

Jia yuan and Jonathan

Yu Xiang and Nicholas said...

By:Yu Xiang and Nicholas

The most serious impact of an aging population is the one that will cause the most permanent damage on Singapore.Therefore,a weakened defense force is the most serious impact.

A weakened defense force is brought about when there are no physically fit people,that is youth,to offer a credible defense against invaders.With an aging population,there would be more elderly and less youth.Hence this would cause a weakened defense force.When Singapore have a weakened defense force,potential enemies will see Singapore as an easy target and may invade us.Thus our survival and independence will be threatened and we will suffer as an occupied country.Hence a weakened defense force is an impact.

An aging population also led to a reduction in competitiveness by Singapore.For example,multi-national companies is Singapore would need talented people of all ages.With an aging population,this would mean that there will be lesser young workers to fill the positions in MNCs.The MNCs will decide to leave Singapore as there are not enough people to run the company in Singapore.Singaporeans employed by MNCs would lose their jobs and their income.They and their families' standard of living will drop and they will suffer.Furthermore,Singapore's economy will be affected by the sudden decrease of workers.Hence a reduction in competitiveness by Singapore is an impact.

An aging population also caused a strain on the working population.With an aging population,there would be less people paying tax and the government would have less money to support Singaporeans' needs.To solve this,the government will need to increase tax rates and the working population have to pay more.This results in less money for the workers and they will suffer a drop in standard of living.Hence putting strain on working population is an impact.

An aging population will also lead to an increased demand for healthcare and social services.An aging population would mean that the number of elderly is increasing.Elderly are often more prone to diseases and there would be an increased need for healthcare and also more people to take care of the elderly.The government have to spend more money on healthcare and as money is finite,they have to draw money from other areas such as defense,development of infrastructure.This will slow down Singapore's development as a country,hence an increased demand for healthcare and social services is an impact.

Having a weakened defense force is the most serious impact because it will cause the most permanent damage on Singapore,the loss of our independence.No matter how rich we are or if we solve our aging population problem,once we are under another flag,we cannot escape.Reduction in Singapore's competitiveness,strain on the working population,an increased demand for healthcare and social services,all these only damage our economy and development as a country and we can definitely recover from such losses.Hence a weakened defense force is the most serious impact of an aging population.

ong shihui said...

The increase of strain on the population is a serious impact when the population declines.When the population is ageing, this means that the population of younger people is lesser than elderly people. When this happens, there will be lesser young people that are economically productive leading to fewer people supporting the older economically unproductive people in each family across the nation. This means that the younger economically productive population must work very hard so that they can support the older unproductive people in the nation. With lesser young people in the nation means that there will be lesser people that will be working and this will cause multi-national companies (MNCs) to leave Singapore as the positions in the company cannot be filled. Thus it is difficult for the younger generation to look for jobs. Hence the strain on the working population and leading to a poorer nation.
When birthrates decline, there will be fewer young people and more elderly people causing an increased in demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly as the elderly are not that physically fit and get ill easily due to old age. This meant that the resources will be used up quickly. With the decrease of young people ,the government collect lesser tax like income tax which elderly does not need to pay as they are retired. This meant that there will be less money to spent on national needs like defence , education and healthcare. Hence the increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly is a serious impact.

Ong Shi Hui(13)
Ong Yan Ting(14)

Anonymous said...

By:Jia teng(22)

The loss of competitiveness is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence means the negative effect on singapore's economy.This is because an aging population would result in there too be a small amount of talented youths to be found in singapore.Mulitnation companies would pefer to hire youth to take up jobs in the companies as youth have a longer work life compared to the elderly.As a result,multinational companies would not be attracted to have their headquater found in singapore causing it to be less competitive in the international market.There would be many people would be jobless due to the lack of the presece of the multinational companies in singapore.This would finally result in the quality of life would become backward and cause singapore to become poor.Therefore,the loss of competitiveness is a serious consequences of an aging population.

The increased strain on the working population is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence means the negative effect on the quality of life in singapore.The is because an aging population would result in the county to have a smaller amount of people in the work force.This means that there would be lesser people to support the elderly causing them be more stress in the tax they are paying which is use to support the elderly.As a result,the goverment would have lesser amount of money to keep there to be a high standard of live within singapore.Thus,singapore would become backward as it is unable to keep the facilities in singapore up to date.Therefore,The increased strain on the working population is a serious consequences of an aging population.

Weaken defence force is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence mean endangering the freedom of singapore.This is because an aging population would cause there to be a lesser amount of fit young people to defend the country.This would becoming a problem as opposing countries would think that singapore is weak and may invade singaporre.As a result singapore would loss its freedom and become part of another country.Therefore ,a weaken defence force is a serious consequences of an aging population.

The increased demand for health services is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence mean the negative effect on the quality of life in singapore.The is because an aging population would mean that the county have a large amount of elderly.This would result in there to be an increace demand for health services as elderly have fall sick easily and have to oftenly go for checkups to keep track of wherether they are health.This would post a problem on singapore's standard of living as the goverment have to use more money to provide hospitas with up to date facilities for the elderly and may have enought money to keep up or increase the standards of living in the county.Which means there would be a drop in the quality of living in singapore.Therefore,the increased demand for health services is a serious consequences of an aging population.


Weaken defence forces is the most serious consequence out of the four as it pull singapore's freedom at risk which is very difficult to get back as soon as possible since it is in the control of the other county unlike returning the quality of life in singapore up to international standards.

Jiayuan & Jonathan Pan said...

The loss of competitiveness in Spore caused by ageing population is a serious impact for Spore. When ageing population increases , there wwill be lesser and lesser young people to do jobs . For example , the MNC is such companies that are known worldwide . IF there're not enough talented young people to do the job ,to take over the position , these MNCs will not want to stay in Spore any further and will then leave Spore. When this happens , Spore will start to suffer in terms of economy and will then threaten the nation's survival sooner or later.
ANother consequence would be the increased in demands for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly. As people grow older , we will be more vulnerable to illnesses , diseases , etc . When such problems arises , to mean that they'll need more help to get them treated . When this happens , the government will then need more resources to help get these people treated . If this continues long term , the government will run out of money sooner or later . WHen this happens , they nation will run out of money and thus , leading to being a backward nation.

Anonymous said...

The most serious consequences which means the most damaging to Singapore’s future and survival is because of an ageing population for Singapore such as the loss of competitiveness by Singapore, a weakened defence force, strain on the working population and increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly.
The loss of competitiveness by Singapore is the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, Multi-National Companies will leave Singapore as MNCs need talented people from all ages. With a decline in population, there will be a lack from sufficient workers who are young. This meant that positions in company cannot be filled and the MNCs may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation. This led to Singaporeans employed by these MNCs lose their jobs and they will lose the income. Therefore, this led to reduction in quality of life and Singapore becomes a poor nation as it is the most damaging to Singapore future and survival. Hence, the loss of competitiveness by Singapore is the serious consequences of an ageing population.
A weaken defence force is one of the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, there are lack of young men who are physically fit enough to offer a credible defence against an enemy. This meant that potential enemy may feel that Singapore is a soft target and may decide to invade Singapore. Therefore, Singapore’s survival and independence is threatened and Singaporeans ceased to become a nation. Thus, Singaporeans suffered as an occupied country. Hence, a weaken defence force is one of the serious consequence of an ageing population.
A strain on the working population is also one of the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, an ageing population means that a population where the percentage of the old people is greater than the younger people. In Singapore, there are increasingly more elderly people. Therefore, there are fever young people below 65 who are economically productive. Thus, there are fewer young people supporting the older economy unproductive people in each family and across the nation. Moreover, in each family, there are fewer children looking after 2 elderly parents such as, in a 1 child family, that child must support 2 elderly parents. This meant that financial strain will be on the younger person as he has to care for the financial medical and other needs of his parents who may be dependent on him/her. Hence, a strain on the working population is one of the serious consequences of an ageing population.
The increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly is one of the serious consequences of ageing population. As the ageing population increases, there will be more elderly in the society than the fit and healthy youths. As elderly are more prone to falling sick this means that the decreasing young population may not be able to financially support them. Thus the government has to spent more money on the ageing population. And as money is limited, they have to draw money from other areas such as defense or development of infrastructure, which may slow down the development of Singapore. Hence, this is a serious consequences of ageing population.
In my opinion, a weakened defense force is a serious consequence of ageing population. Serious consequence means that it stronger affects our country’s survival. Other country may decide to invade or take over Singapore if they know our defense force is weak. This therefore threatened our country’s survival, so is a serious consequence of ageing population.

-ENG XUE QI & TOH YING EN :D

Anonymous said...

PART 1

The most serious consequences which means the most damaging to Singapore’s future and survival is because of an ageing population for Singapore such as the loss of competitiveness by Singapore, a weakened defence force, strain on the working population and increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly.
The loss of competitiveness by Singapore is the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, Multi-National Companies will leave Singapore as MNCs need talented people from all ages. With a decline in population, there will be a lack from sufficient workers who are young. This meant that positions in company cannot be filled and the MNCs may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation. This led to Singaporeans employed by these MNCs lose their jobs and they will lose the income. Therefore, this led to reduction in quality of life and Singapore becomes a poor nation as it is the most damaging to Singapore future and survival. Hence, the loss of competitiveness by Singapore is the serious consequences of an ageing population.
A weaken defence force is one of the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, there are lack of young men who are physically fit enough to offer a credible defence against an enemy. This meant that potential enemy may feel that Singapore is a soft target and may decide to invade Singapore. Therefore, Singapore’s survival and independence is threatened and Singaporeans ceased to become a nation. Thus, Singaporeans suffered as an occupied country. Hence, a weaken defence force is one of the serious consequence of an ageing population.
A strain on the working population is also one of the serious consequences of an ageing population. For example, an ageing population means that a population where the percentage of the old people is greater than the younger people. In Singapore, there are increasingly more elderly people. Therefore, there are fever young people below 65 who are economically productive. Thus, there are fewer young people supporting the older economy unproductive people in each family and across the nation. Moreover, in each family, there are fewer children looking after 2 elderly parents such as, in a 1 child family, that child must support 2 elderly parents. This meant that financial strain will be on the younger person as he has to care for the financial medical and other needs of his parents who may be dependent on him/her. Hence, a strain on the working population is one of the serious consequences of an ageing population.

Anonymous said...

The increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly is one of the serious consequences of ageing population. As the ageing population increases, there will be more elderly in the society than the fit and healthy youths. As elderly are more prone to falling sick this means that the decreasing young population may not be able to financially support them. Thus the government has to spent more money on the ageing population. And as money is limited, they have to draw money from other areas such as defense or development of infrastructure, which may slow down the development of Singapore. Hence, this is a serious consequences of ageing population.
In my opinion, a weakened defense force is a serious consequence of ageing population. Serious consequence means that it stronger affects our country’s survival. Other country may decide to invade or take over Singapore if they know our defense force is weak. This therefore threatened our country’s survival, so is a serious consequence of ageing population.


-ENG XUE QI & TOH YING EN :D

Anonymous said...

WEIRU &NIXON:

Serious consequences mean that it will damage Singapore’s future and survival. I agree to a large extent that a weakened defence force is the most serious consequences of all.

A weakened defence force is the most serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore. In an ageing population, there will be more elderly people than young people. Therefore there will be fewer young men and more elderly men serving and to defend Singapore. An armed force needs strong and fit young men to offer a credible defence against the enemy. However, Singapore is lack of such physically fit young men as there is an ageing population. Potential enemy may thus feel that Singapore is a soft target and may decide to invade. Thus Singapore’s survival will be threatened when enemy invade Singapore. Not only will Singapore’s survival be threatened, it will also affect Singapore’s future as companies would not want to come to Singapore to invest and set up their companies at Singapore as they will be afraid for their investments to be lost as enemies are invading Singapore and Singapore is ‘not stable’. Thus, Singapore’s economy will fall. And therefore a weakened defence force is the most serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore.

Strain on working population is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore. With an ageing population, there will be less and young people working and fever young people who are employed. Government collects lesser and lesser tax, such as income tax. The elderly who are mostly retired do not pay income tax anymore. Thus there will be lesser income tax received by the government. In order to sustain the overall quality of life in Singapore, the government must increase the amount of money of income tax collected from each working person, so that the government will then have enough money to spend on national needs like defence, education and healthcare. So that quality of these public services will then not fall. However, when the government increase the amount of money of income tax collected from each working person, the working person will have to pay more tax and thus have lesser money to spend on themselves and on their family, as the working person has to care for the financial, medical and other needs of his parents who may be dependent on him. This will cause the quality of life in Singapore to fall. And thus Singapore’s future will be threatened when the quality of life in Singapore falls. Therefore strain on working population is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore.

Anonymous said...

Loss of competiveness in Singapore is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore. The Multinational companies (MNCs) in Singapore needed young and talented people to sustain its development. With an ageing population in Singapore, there will be lack of sufficient workers who are young and talented as there is an increasing number of elderly people. Thus, positions in these companies cannot be filled. The MNCs would find it difficult and perhaps more expensive to recruit Singaporeans compared to the huge labour market in countries like China. Singapore would also be less attractive because of its smaller consumer market. MNCs may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation. Singaporeans employed by these MNCs will thus lose their jobs when the MNCs left Singapore. Thus Singaporeans will lose their income, which lead to reduction in quality of life. Singaporeans will also not be able to pay income tax to the government as they do not have a job. Thus Singapore becomes a poor nation. Singapore loss competiveness as they have not enough young and talented people, thus these companies left Singapore and go to other countries. Other companies will also not come to Singapore to set up their companies as they know they are going to lose money as Singapore has an ageing population. Therefore loss of competiveness in Singapore is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore as it damages Singapore’s future.

Increased demand for healthcare services is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore. With an ageing population, there will be more elderly people than young people. As elderly people are more vulnerable to sickness compared to young people, they get prone to illnesses easily. Somemore with an ageing population, there will be more elderly people. This means that there will also be a need for more healthcare services, to keep the elderly people healthy. An increase number of healthcare services also meant that the amount of money they government spends on the healthcare services will increase. With the amount of money used just for healthcare services increases, the amount of money used for other services like education, defence will decrease, as there is only a limited amount of money the government has to spend on such services. Quality of such services will then fall, making Singapore a backward nation as the overall quality of life in Singapore will deteriorate, thus damaging to Singapore’s future. Therefore increased demand for healthcare services is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore.

A weakened defence force is the most serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore compared to strain on working population, loss of competiveness and increased demand for healthcare services. A weakened defence not only will lose companies coming to Singapore to invest and set up their companies in Singapore, it will also threaten Singapore’s survival. Singapore is vulnerable to attacks by the enemies as the enemies know that Singapore has a weak defence force as Singapore has an ageing population. Singapore will thus lose our independence once we are under another country. Strain on working population, loss of competiveness and increased demand for healthcare services only damage Singapore’s future and economy but will not affect Singapore’s independence. I agree to a large extent that a weakened defence force is the most serious consequences of all.

WEIRU &NIXON.

Chloe Chee (2) & Chua Boon Kuan (24) said...

Four factors that can impact Singapore in a negative manner are loss of competitiveness by Singapore, a weakened defence force, strsin on the working population and increased demand for healthcare an nursing care for the elderly. All these factors are serious as they damaging to Singapore's survival and future.

One factor that can impact Singapore in a negative manner is loss of competitiveness by Singapore. With a small population, Singapore will not be able to produce enough talented people to sustain it development. Multinationsl corporations will find it difficult and perhaps more expensive to recruit Singaporeans compared to the huge lsbour market in countries such as China. Singapore will also be less attractive because of its smsller consumer market. This meant that there will be loss of competitiveness. Without competitiveness, more MNCs will not set up businesses in Singapore, foreigners and even talented Singaporeans might go to other countries to look for jobs. Hence,Singapore will be a backward nation.

Another factor that can impact Singapore in a negative manner is a weakened defence force. There will be a lack of young men who are physically fit enough to offer a credible defence against an enemy. This makes potential enemies to feel that Singapore is a soft target and many of them may decide to invade Singapore. This meant that Singapore can be in danger at anytime, if Singapore is really being invaded, there is nothing much that the remaining guys protecting Singapore can do. Hence,Singapore will be a backward nation.

Another factor that can impact Singapore in a negative manner is strain on the working population. In Singapore,there are increasingly more elderly people and fewer young people below 65 years who are economically productive. There are also fewer younger people supporting the older economically unproductive people in each family and across nation. At national level,with fewer younger people,the government will collect lesser tax since there are fewer young people who are employed and the elderly do not pay income tax anymore. This meant that the government has less money to spend on national needs like defence,education and health. Working people have to work extra harder as they have to pay more taxes and support their families at the same time. Hence,Singapore will be a backward nation.

Another factor that can impact Singapore in a negative manner is increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly. As the number of elderly people increases,the taxes required to be paid increases in order to spend on nationl needs, especially heathcare and most of the taxes collected will also be spend on more resources to take care of the elderly people. However,after a certain period of time, the number of resources starts to decrease as elderly people are prone to illness,then more resources will be used on the elderly people. This meant that working people have to start paying more and more taxes for the sake of the elderly people and a lot of money will not be used on Singapore's economy,so, Singapore's economy will be severely affected. Hence,Singapore will be a backward nation.

Anonymous said...

[Part 1]

The loss of competitiveness in Singapore caused by the ageing population is a serious impact for Singapore. With the decline in population, there will be lesser young people in the workspace and in other words, there are lesser young and talented people to take up the jobs. With a small population, Singapore will also not able to produce enough talented people to sustain it development. For instance, the Multi-national companies in Singapore would need talented people of all ages. With the ageing population in Singapore, there is a lack of sufficient workers who are young and this leads to many positions in the company cannot be filled. Due to this reason, the MNCs may want to leave Singapore in order to continue their business operations. This will make Singaporeans who are employed by these companies to lose their jobs. This will thus make the Singaporeans to lose their income and reduction in their quality of life-survival. Furthermore, Singapore’s economy will be affected by the sudden decrease of workers and makes Singapore to become a poor nation. Hence, the loss of competitiveness is a serious consequence of an aging population.

Furthermore, weakened defense force is another impact that is caused by the ageing population. A weakened defense force is brought about when there are no physically fit people, which are the youth, to offer a credible defense against invaders. With A decline in population, there will be lesser young in the country who will be physically able to defence for Singapore. This will make the potential enermies to feel that Singapore is a soft target and may have decided to invade us. Hence, our survival and independence is threatened and cease to become a nation. Due to this reason, it will also cause us to suffer as an occupied country. Therefore, a weakened defense force is another impact that is caused by the ageing population.

Moreover, an aging population also caused a strain on the working population. The increase of strain on the population is a serious impact when the population declines. When the population is ageing, this means that the population of younger people is lesser than elderly people. When this happens, there will be lesser young people that are economically productive leading to fewer people supporting the older economically unproductive people in each family across the nation. This means that the younger economically productive population must work very hard so that they can support the older unproductive people in the nation. With lesser young people in the nation means that there will be lesser people that will be working and this will cause multi-national companies (MNCs) to leave Singapore as the positions in the company cannot be filled. Thus it is difficult for the younger generation to look for jobs. Hence, it will lead to the strain on the working population and also to a poorer nation.

By: OngShiHui(13) & OngYanTing(14)

Anonymous said...

[Part 2]

Last but not least, an aging population will also lead to an increased demand for healthcare and social services. When birthrates decline, there will be fewer young people and more elderly people causing an increased in demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly as the elderly are not that physically fit and get ill easily due to old age. This meant that the resources will be used up quickly. With the decrease of young people ,the government collect lesser tax like income tax which elderly does not need to pay as they are retired. This meant that there will be less money to spent on national needs like defence , education and healthcare. Hence the increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly is a serious impact.

In conclusion, the most serious impact of a declining population is the one which is the most damaging to Singapore future and survival. Having a weakened defense force is the most serious impact because it will cause the most permanent damage on Singapore, the loss of our independence and freedom. No matter how rich we are or whether we can solve our ageing problems or not, once we are under another flag, rule by another country, we cannot escape and it is very hard for us to gain back our independence and freedom again. However, reduction in Singapore's competitiveness, increased strain on the working population, and an increased demand for healthcare and social services, are the impacts that only damage our economy and development as a country and we can definitely recover from such losses easily compared to gain back our freedom and independence from other country. Hence a weakened defense force is the most serious impact of an ageing population.

By: OngShiHui(13) & OngYanTing(14)

Anonymous said...

Loss of competitiveness- When there is a ageing population in singapore, the percentage of old people is more ten the percentage of young people. this can also means that the percentage of people who is able to work if lesser. this would lead to MNCs leaving singapore as MNCs looked out for young talent and now there are none, so they would leave singapore. this would cause a large amount of singaporeans being jobless and having most of the MNCs leaving singapore, it will be very hard to find another job and thus they would loss their income. hence, singapore would become poor and their survival would be affected.

Increase strain on working population- when there is an ageing population, the tax that government recieves will decrease as old people does not need to pay tax. this would lead to the government not having enough money to pay for needs of singaporeans, example, health, housing and defense. the govenment will then increae the amount of tax needed to pay on the current working population in order to have enough money to pay for our needs. thus, the current working population will not have enough money to spent on their daily needs and not even for their family. hence, this would led to a low standard of living in singapore and thus, affecting our survival.

weakned defense force- when there is an ageing population, this means that there is lesser young men who is physically fit to provide a credible defence for singapore. singapore would then become vurnable with a weak defense force and potential enemies would then start to invade singapore and they would bound to win. thus, singapore survivial would be affected and our dream to become a better nation would be gone.

Increased demand for healthcare services- when there is a ageing population, the need for healthcare would increase as when people starts to get old, they tend to get sick easily. this would led to the amount money needed for the healthcare services would increase and lesser money would be spent on other areas for example, housing, defence, education and infrastrcutre. this would also means that our needs may not be meet due to reduce resources that are redeployed to meet rising healthcare needs. hence, singapore dreams to become a better nation would be affected.

CHAN RUI WEN MARCUS KERH

Aldwin & Weilit said...

Aldwin(25) & Weilit(36)

I agree to a far extend that a weakened defence force is the most serious impact of the population decline.

A weakened defence force is the most serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore. The number of elderly becomes more than that of the younger people and the lack of young men to serve and protect the land becomes lesser.Potential enemy may thus feel that Singapore is a easy target and may decide to invade. Thus it threatens Singapore's survival. It also discourage companies to set up their company in Singapore in fear that the company might get attacked. Thus Singpore's economy will become weak. Therefore, a weakened defence force is the most serious impact of population decline.

However, strains on the working population is another serious impact of a population decline. With a smaller work force, there would be lesser young people working. Government would collect lesser and lesser tax, such as income tax and elderly who are mostly retired do not pay income tax anymore. Thus the income tax that the government collects becomes very little. But, to keep the overall quality of life high, the government would have to increase the income tax collected from each working person, so that the government will then have enough money to spend on national needs like defence, education and healthcare. And this would cause the money that tax payers bring back to be lesser, thus causing the tax payers to be able to spend too much money on their family. This will cause the quality of life in Singapore to fall. And thus Singapore’s future will be threatened when the quality of life in Singapore falls. Therefore, the strains on the working population is a serious impact of the population decline.

Aldwin& Weilit said...

Aldwin & Weilit

The loss of competiveness in Singapore is also a serious consequence of population decline.
The Multinational Companies (MNCs) in Singapore needs young and talented people to be able to function. However with the population declining, the number of these talented youths become lesser. This cause a lack of people to fill up those important position in the company. The MNCs would find it difficult and perhaps more expensive to recruit Singaporeans compared to the huge labour market in countries like China and India. MNCs may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation and those Singaporeans employed by the companies would lose their jobs. Thus Singaporeans will lose their income, which lead to reduction in quality of life. Singaporeans will also not be able to pay income tax to the government as they do not have a job. Thus Singapore becomes a poor nation. Singapore would lose competiveness as they have not enough young and talented people which discourage other companies to set up their company in Singapore. Therefore loss of competiveness in Singapore is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore as it damages Singapore’s future.

The increasing demand for healthcare services is also a serious consequence of a declining population. As the elderly are more prone to sickness and illnesses. The demand for healtcare would be greater, the government would have to fork out more money in order to keep up with the demand. This would mean that lesser money can be spent for other services like education, defence will decrease, as there is only a limited amount of money the government has to spend on such services. Thus the quality of these services would not be as good and Singapore would become a backward nation. Therefore, increased demand for healthcare services is also a serious consequence of an ageing population in Singapore.

In conclusion, the most serious impact of the population decline is a weakened defence force. It not only lose companies coming to Singapore to invest and set up their companies in Singapore, it will also threaten Singapore’s survival. The weakened defence makes Singapore vulnerable to attacks from other countries. Thus Singapore would lose our independence once we are under another country. Strain on working population, loss of competiveness and increased demand for healthcare services only damage Singapore’s future and economy but will not affect Singapore’s independence. Therefore, a weakened defence force is the most serious impact of the population decline.

yvonne and ken said...

These 4 serious consequences of an ageing population will have an impact on Singapore in a negative manner. In this essay, serious is defined as damaging to Singapore’s survival and future.
Loss of competitiveness in Singapore
-multi-national companies such as Nike and Adidas need talented people of all ages
-however with a decline in population, it means that Singapore is lacked of sufficient workers who are young and capable.
-thus positions in companies cannot be fully occupied.
-older workers tend to be less productive and have health related issues.
-as a result, these MNCs would find it difficult and perhaps more expensive to recruit Singaporeans compared to the huge labor market in countries such as china. Singapore would also be less attractive because of its smaller consumer market. Thus, they may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation.
- Singaporeans employed by MNCs will lose their jobs
-reduction in quality of life Singapore becomes a poor nationsurvival and independence is threatened.
A weakened defence force
-a lack of young men who are physically fit enough to offer credible defence against an enemy
-potential enemy may feel that Singapore is a vulnerable target and may decide to invade us
-this will in turn discourages political investors and in serious cases, force existing investors to pull out of the country.
-Singapore may cease to become a nation and will suffered as an occupied country
-thus, our survival and independence is threatened.
Increased strain on working population
-ageing populationthe proportion of elderly people is greater than young people
-as a result, Singapore will have increasingly more elderly people but fewer young people(below 65 years) who are economically productive.
-fewer younger people will have to support the older economically unproductive people in each family and the whole nation
-in each family, there are fewer children looking after the elderlyfinancial strain on the younger person as he has to care for all aspects of his parent who are dependent on him
-with fewer people, government will collect lesser and lesser tax since fewer and fewer people are employed, this excludes the elderly since they have retired from the workforce.
-government has less money to spend on national needs like defence, education and healthcarequality of public services will falloverall quality of life will deteriorateSingapore will become a backward nationour survival and independence will be threatened
Increase demand for healthcare and nursing needs for the elderly
-due to the ageing population in Singapore, there is a large proportion of elderly people than young people
-elderly people are more prone to have health related problems or illness at an older age
-thus with more elderly people in our population, the government will have to take into account for them and spent more resources and money on providing them with proper healthcare and nursing needs.
-however, our resources are finite which means it is limited, when the money and resources being spent on only the aspect of healthcare increases, there will be lesser money resources left available to improve on other important aspects of the nation such as defence, housing and education.
-if all these areas are neglected, sooner or later the nation will not be able to progress well enough and the quality of people’s life will deteriorateSingapore will become a backward nation our survival and independence will be threatened

yvonne and ken said...

These 4 serious consequences of an ageing population will have an impact on Singapore in a negative manner. In this essay, serious is defined as damaging to Singapore’s survival and future.
Loss of competitiveness in Singapore
-multi-national companies such as Nike and Adidas need talented people of all ages
-however with a decline in population, it means that Singapore is lacked of sufficient workers who are young and capable.
-thus positions in companies cannot be fully occupied.
-older workers tend to be less productive and have health related issues.
-as a result, these MNCs would find it difficult and perhaps more expensive to recruit Singaporeans compared to the huge labor market in countries such as china. Singapore would also be less attractive because of its smaller consumer market. Thus, they may leave Singapore in order to continue their business operation.
- Singaporeans employed by MNCs will lose their jobs
-reduction in quality of life Singapore becomes a poor nationsurvival and independence is threatened.
A weakened defence force
-a lack of young men who are physically fit enough to offer credible defence against an enemy
-potential enemy may feel that Singapore is a vulnerable target and may decide to invade us
-this will in turn discourages political investors and in serious cases, force existing investors to pull out of the country.
-Singapore may cease to become a nation and will suffered as an occupied country
-thus, our survival and independence is threatened.
Increased strain on working population
-ageing populationthe proportion of elderly people is greater than young people
-as a result, Singapore will have increasingly more elderly people but fewer young people(below 65 years) who are economically productive.
-fewer younger people will have to support the older economically unproductive people in each family and the whole nation
-in each family, there are fewer children looking after the elderlyfinancial strain on the younger person as he has to care for all aspects of his parent who are dependent on him
-with fewer people, government will collect lesser and lesser tax since fewer and fewer people are employed, this excludes the elderly since they have retired from the workforce.
-government has less money to spend on national needs like defence, education and healthcarequality of public services will falloverall quality of life will deteriorateSingapore will become a backward nationour survival and independence will be threatened
Increase demand for healthcare and nursing needs for the elderly
-due to the ageing population in Singapore, there is a large proportion of elderly people than young people
-elderly people are more prone to have health related problems or illness at an older age
-thus with more elderly people in our population, the government will have to take into account for them and spent more resources and money on providing them with proper healthcare and nursing needs.
-however, our resources are finite which means it is limited, when the money and resources being spent on only the aspect of healthcare increases, there will be lesser money resources left available to improve on other important aspects of the nation such as defence, housing and education.
-if all these areas are neglected, sooner or later the nation will not be able to progress well enough and the quality of people’s life will deteriorateSingapore will become a backward nation our survival and independence will be threatened

yvonne and ken said...

The most serious consequence is the one that will cause the greatest damage to Singapore’s survival and future. Thus, the most serious consequence is the increased demand for healthcare services. If there is an ageing population with more elderly than young people, more resources will have to be spent on providing healthcare and nursing needs for the elderly. Since our resources are limited, when more is spent on healthcare, there will be less left for improving on the aspects of housing, education and defence. Thus Singapore will become a backward country and this will threatened our survival and future as we will be more vulnerable without a strong defence force and without sufficient resources to prepare for future crisis. However, all the other consequences are not as serious as they bring negative impacts to a certain extent. Loss of competitiveness will not threaten our survival and future that much as without the MNCs, Singapore will still be able to function well internally. All the other factors can still be overcome, but the increased demand for healthcare services cannot as our resources have already been used, it cannot be reverse back. Thus, the most serious consequence is the increased demand for healthcare services.

JOSEPHINE, JIAYI. said...

I agree to a large extent that a weakened defence force indeed has the most serious impact on Singapore. A weakened defence force means that all the fit man turned into the eldery as time passes by, and there is lesser and lesser young suitable people who can go for reservice and serve the nation, leading to a weakened defence force as much people was unable to do anything to help protect the country during war. Singapore will be defeated easily as other countries will feel that Singapore is a soft target and many will come and invade us. Thus, a weakened defence force is the most serious impact on Singapore as it may pose as a threat to Singapore's future.

Another factor that has a serious impact on Singapore is the loss of competitiveness by Singapore. One such example is the multi-national companies leaving Singapore. They need talented people of all ages. With an ageing population, Singapore lack of sufficient workers who are young and the positions in the company cannot be filled. MNCs may decide to leave Singapore and singaporeans who were employed by these MNCs lose their jobs. Singaporeans lose their income and Singapore becomes a poor nation and it is crucial for Singapore's future. Therefore, the loss of competitiveness by Singapore is another serious imapact caused by the ageing population.

Furthermore, there is also the increased demand for healthcare and nursing care of the elderly as the ageing population increases. With more elderly, they get sick easily. Money is limited and thus, the government has to spend more money on healthcare for the elderly and take the money from the upgrading of infrastructure development, housing and defence. When this happens, Singapore will be unable to upgrade the facilities and improve on Singapore's infrastructure as the money will be taken to manage the healthcare problems faced by moer elderly. Thus, the increased demand for healthcare and nursing care for the elderly is a serious impact on Singapore.

Moreover, the strains on the working population is also a serious impact on Singapore. It means that there will be fewer people in the working population and lesser people to support the elderly in their homes. Government will also be collecting lesser tax as there is lesser people working in a family. With lesser tax collected, the governemnt had lesser money to improve and upgrade on Singapore's infrastructure and also housing. The quality of life people lived in decreases and thus, the strains on the working population is a serious impact on Singapore as it may affect Singapore's future.

In conclusion, the most serious impact on Singapore due to the ageing population is the factor that can cause Singapore's survival become a threat during the long-term. Which is in this case, the weakened defence force. Without many young people around to go back for reservice, there will be lesser army. When a war takes place during this time, Singapore is sure to be invaded easily as there is not many physically fit army man protecting the country from invasion. Thus, Singapore's survival is threatened in the long term and hence, a weakened defence force is the most serious impact on Singapore.

Jia Teng and Mervin said...

The loss of competitiveness is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence means the negative effect on singapore's economy.This is because an aging population would result in there too be a small amount of talented youths to be found in singapore.Mulitnation companies would pefer to hire youth to take up jobs in the companies as youth have a longer work life compared to the elderly.As a result,multinational companies would not be attracted to have their headquater found in singapore causing it to be less competitive in the international market.There would be many people would be jobless due to the lack of the presece of the multinational companies in singapore.This would finally result in the quality of life would become backward and cause singapore to become poor.Therefore,the loss of competitiveness is a serious consequences of an aging population.

The increased strain on the working population is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence means the negative effect on the quality of life in singapore.The is because an aging population would result in the county to have a smaller amount of people in the work force.This means that there would be lesser people to support the elderly causing them be more stress in the tax they are paying which is use to support the elderly.As a result,the goverment would have lesser amount of money to keep there to be a high standard of live within singapore.Thus,singapore would become backward as it is unable to keep the facilities in singapore up to date.Therefore,The increased strain on the working population is a serious consequences of an aging population.

Weaken defence force is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence mean endangering the freedom of singapore.This is because an aging population would cause there to be a lesser amount of fit young people to defend the country.This would becoming a problem as opposing countries would think that singapore is weak and may invade singaporre.As a result singapore would loss its freedom and become part of another country.Therefore ,a weaken defence force is a serious consequences of an aging population.

The increased demand for health services is a serious consequences of an aging population when consequence mean the negative effect on the quality of life in singapore.The is because an aging population would mean that the county have a large amount of elderly.This would result in there to be an increace demand for health services as elderly have fall sick easily and have to oftenly go for checkups to keep track of wherether they are health.This would post a problem on singapore's standard of living as the goverment have to use more money to provide hospitas with up to date facilities for the elderly and may have enought money to keep up or increase the standards of living in the county.Which means there would be a drop in the quality of living in singapore.Therefore,the increased demand for health services is a serious consequences of an aging population.


Weaken defence forces is the most serious consequence out of the four as it pull singapore's freedom at risk which is very difficult to get back as soon as possible since it is in the control of the other county unlike returning the quality of life in singapore up to international standards.

Jia Teng(22)
Mervin(31)

Anonymous said...

Jermaine and chong wee

1.Incresing demands for healthcare and mursing for elderly
The demand for health care service will also increse when there are more aged.more day-care centres and home nursing care will be needed to help families look after their old relatives . a large pool of trained staffs will be requires to look after the elderly. facilities such as support hand bar in toilets ,lifts would have to be built for th large number of senior citizen.so there wil be a strain on the budget for the elderly. with an ageing population, the government will have to spend more moneyon services and facilities for the senior citizen. singapore'shealth care budget will double to about 8% of total income by 2030. this is because the growing number of aged required more expensive expensivehealth care as their life expectancy increases.
2. Strain on working population. ageing population has a great impact on working force . so who will then be paying for this incrased in expenses on health care sevice? it will have to come from the working population. as our birth rate declines, the number of economically active people will declined . so this smaller group of the labour foce will be paying more taxes to support this very large group of elderly . it wwould be a disaster if companies and young workers have to be heavily chargedto support this senior citizensa sthey would losetheir motvation to make profits and work . this give a negative impact as the burden of supporting the aged lies with the lobour force.