Apropos Barun Roy's column "Getting old, staying young" (Asia File, March 7), the demographic challenge as faced by Singapore holds true for Japan and Germany, too. And this situation is set to get worse in the next decade. It's a double-edged sword. In countries that have a higher population growth rate, this is being averted to an extent. But then, such countries face the challenge of population explosion and, thus, the availability of limited resources to feed a huge number of people. In others, owing to better education and living standards, the population growth rate is slow and thus, population ageing becomes an issue. To resolve this issue, these countries should encourage people to migrate for studies and work. This would help job rationalisation and plug the demand for highly skilled people in different regions. This intercultural mix would also help people learn more, and at the same time, it would keep such demographic imbalances in check.
Vinay Singhal Gurgaon
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