“Population ageing is a process no longer confined to industrialized countries. Demographers expect most of the growth of the world's elderly population during the next 50 years to occur in developing countries. A distinctive feature of ageing in these countries, likely to present additional developmental challenges, is the rapidity of the ageing process expected. Many less advanced economies are ageing at a much faster rate than that witnessed in OECD economies, and also at a much earlier stage of their economic development, placing them at a greater disadvantage in terms of their ability to respond to ageing pressures. Not only will the political timeframe available to formulate and implement policy responses be shorter, but the availability of financial, institutional and technical resources and capacities to respond to ageing pressures are currently more limited. Low-income countries with the most severe ageing pressures are those whose social policies covering health and education have achieved successful developmental outcomes, as reflected by reductions in infant mortality and fertility levels, improvements in nutritional status of the population, and universal access to education and healthcare. Despite these advances, ageing is occurring at a time when social security coverage has not - by a large margin - achieved comprehensive coverage and where formal retirement institutions are limited in coverage to a minority of the better-off elderly. In addition, traditional institutions in the form of filial systems of protection, which have supported the elderly in the past, are gradually eroding due to outmigration, a progressive reduction of family size and an increase in the participation rate of women in the workforce.”