The relationship of population aging and economic growth: A different approach to the traditional stable situation

The age structure of a society is extremely effective in determining the goods and service preferences, expectations, production, consumption, investments, initiatives and government policies of that society. Today, when the population structures of various countries are compared with their level of development, it is seen that as the level of development increases, the ratio of the young population to the total population decreases, while the ratio of the elderly population to the total population increases. In the study, the effects of the increase in the share of 65+ population in the total population on economic growth were examined under the headings of population aging and growth, population theories and population-related growth models, and the economic effects of aging. Particularly in developed countries, it is aimed to reveal with panel data analysis that the growth rate has decreased due to the accumulation of the elderly population, and that the economies have entered a stagnant state for this reason, as well as the law of declining yields. For this purpose, the production function of R. Solow was taken into account and the annual data of 25 high-income countries from the World Bank database for the period 1995-2021 were used. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that 1 unit increase in capital per worker increases output per worker by 0.504 and 1 unit increase in 65+ population per worker reduces output per worker by -0.241. In this context, it has been argued that the slowing effect of aging on economic growth can be significantly resolved with policies such as labor force imports, increasing the quality of labor force, capital-intensive production, increasing women's employment, extending the retirement age and silver economy.