Cover Departmental Papers
Growing Pains: Is Latin America Prepared for Population Aging?
Author: Mr. Lorenzo U Figliuoli, Valentina Flamini1, Misael Galdamez2, Frederic Lambert, Mike Li, Mr. Bogdan Lissovolik, Rosalind Mowatt3, Jaume Puig, Mr. Alexander D Klemm, Mauricio Soto, Mr. Saji Thomas, Christoph Freudenberg4, and Anna Orthofer5
  • 1 https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396, International Monetary Fund
  • | 2 https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396, International Monetary Fund
  • | 3 https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396, International Monetary Fund
  • | 4 https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396, International Monetary Fund
  • | 5 https://isni.org/isni/0000000404811396, International Monetary Fund
Series:
Departmental Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2018: Issue 005
Language:
English
Publication Date:
05 Apr 2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484326107.087
ISBN:
9781484326107
ISSN:
2616-5333
Pages:
195
Keywords:
DPPP; DP; present discounted value; retirement age; private sector; public spending; replacement rate; minimum wage; rate of return; contribution rate; Pension system; Pension spending; Pensions; Aging; Health care spending; Retirement; Europe; Asia and Pacific; Global; Central America; Sub-Saharan Africa
Legal-disclaimer:
The Departmental Paper Series presents research by IMF staff on issues of broad regional or cross-country interest. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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This paper estimates the fiscal costs of population aging in Latin America and provides policy recommendations on reforms needed to make these costs manageable. Although Latin American societies are still younger than most advanced economies, like other emerging markets the region is already in a process of population aging that is expected to accelerate in the remainder of the century. This will directly affect fiscal sustainability by putting pressure on public pension and health care systems in the region that are already more burdened than, for example, in emerging Asia, a region with a similar demographic structure. A stylized cross-country exercise, drawing on demographic projections from the United Nations and methodologies developed by the IMF to derive public spending projections, is used to quantify long-term fiscal gaps generated by population aging in 18 Latin American countries. Several aspects of current pensions and health care systems in Latin Amer-ica make the region’s long-term fiscal positions particularly vulnerable to population aging.
Cover Departmental Papers
Departmental Papers
ISSN:
2616-5333
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund