Germany and the Challenge of Global Aging

March 3, 2003

Within twenty-five years, half of the adult population in Germany will be at or beyond the age of eligibility for publicly subsidized retirement benefits. Germany and the Challenge of Global Aging takes a close look at how this demographic revolution is likely to transform Germany’s economy and society. It warns that the aging of its population will heap vast new costs on public budgets—and may mean stagnating or declining living standards unless Germany renegotiates a social contract that, even after recent reforms, is due to channel an ever-rising share of society’s resources from workers to retirees.