Older people must be given more chances to learn if they are to contribute to society rather than be a financial burden 经济负担, according to a new study on population published today.

 

　　The current approach which concentrates on younger people and on skills for employment is inadequate 不充足 to meet the challenges of demographic 人口的 change, it says. Only 1% of the education budget is currently spent on the oldest third of the population.

 

　　The challenges include the fact that most people can expect to spend a third of their lives in retirement, that there are now more people over 59 than under 16 and that 11.3 million people are over state pension age 国家退休金年龄. Life expectancy 预期寿命 for a 65-year-old is now 85 for men and 88 for women.

 

　　"Learning needs to continue throughout life. "The vast majority of our education budget is spent on people below the age of 25. When people are changing their jobs, homes, partners and lifestyles more often than ever, they need opportunities to learn at every age." For example, some people are starting new careers in their 50s and later.

 

　　People need opportunities to make a "midlife review 回顾中年" to adjust to the later stages of employed life, and to plan for the transition 过渡 to retirement, which may now happen unpredictably at any point from 50 to over 90.

 

　　And there should be more money available to support people in establishing a sense of identity and finding constructive roles for the "third age", the 20 or more years they will spend in healthy retired life.

 

　　The same goes for the expanding "fourth age" when people need to maintain identity, health, social engagement and wellbeing during the final stages of life. In an era of greater mobility there should be more help for people to establish themselves in new relationships and places.

 

　　With the downturn in the economy 经济下滑 affecting the value of all types of pensioners, people need to continue learning. Some need to maintain skills to earn and support dependents 保持能力去赚钱和帮助需要依靠的人. Others can do voluntary work more effectively if they can retain and update their skills and knowledge保持或更新技能和知识 .

 

　　Even if it is right for the bulk of public大众 funding to be spent in this way, government needs to consider how the other kinds of learning need are to be met 达到要求, and to ask whether 1% of the public education budget is a proper share 合适的比例 to tackle the learning needs of a third of the population 指老年人群体."