Experts Predict Asia Will Need $20 Trillion on Healthcare Costs For Its Elderly By 2030

We all know that healthcare gets more expensive as you grow older. Unfortunately, for Asia’s extremely large population, it’s not looking too good in terms of costs in the future.

Asia is aging faster than anywhere in the planet with about 200 million people passing the age of 65 by 2030, according to the Asia Pacific Risk Center (APRC). Experts predict that healthcare costs for the elderly in Asia could cost $20 trillion to upkeep.

On Thursday, the study specified that the region will welcome 511 million elderly people by 2030 — part of a general population of 3.8 billion.

As it turns out, Japan will be the first “ultra-aged” country, with 28% of its population having senior status.

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This is not entirely surprising — the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry previously estimated that by 2025, 1 in 5 people will be over the age of 75 and that 1 in 5 seniors over 65 will have dementia, The Japan Times wrote.

Meanwhile, the APRC’s study predicted that a fifth of Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan’s people will hit 65, Rappler noted.

Thanks to baby-boomers, Asia saw its population increase in the last decades – but the tides are apparently changing.

“Many Asia-Pacific countries are transiting from a period when they reaped a ‘demographic dividend’ to one where they face the prospect of paying a ‘demographic tax’,” the study expressed.

Researchers warned that the aging rate is an unprecedented challenge, and that governments will need to invest more on healthcare as current levels are “unsustainable.”