Population aging is a global trend affecting even young economies. Southeast Asian nations like Thailand and Vietnam are in intermediate stages of demographic transition, highlighting the need for strategies to offset the economic impact.

Population ageing is fast becoming a global phenomenon. Even regions currently enjoying youthful demographics will eventually undergo demographic transition – and this is increasingly relevant for developing countries too. Some Southeast Asian economies, Thailand and Vietnam among them, have already reached the intermediate stages of this transition. It has begun even in younger economies such as the Philippines, where the fertility rate has now fallen below replacement level. Conventional...