Graphs Future Agenda First published September 2018 by: Future Agenda Limited 84 Brook Street London W1K 5EH www.futureagenda.org

But, then again, the aging of populations will reduce the number of workers in developed and some developing countries by many millions. The dependency ratio -- the ratio of people of non-working age to those of working age -- is a crude measure of the scale of the problem. Globally, the dependency ratio of non-working older people to workers has indeed risen over the 56 years, from 8.6 percent to 13 percent, and will continue to increase. Even in Japan, with its low birth and immigration rates, and an old-dependency ratio that has gone up by a remarkable 35 percentage points, from 9 percent to 44 percent, the total ratio has risen by a much more modest 10 percentage points, to 66 percent.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies will undoubtedly destroy millions of jobs around the world. The losses sound like a problem to many people who fear automation could leave too few positions to go around. But, then again, the aging of populations will reduce the number of workers in developed and some developing countries by many millions. Those losses, too, might sound like a problem, because there might not be enough workers to go around. What are we to make of these apparently alarming but contradictory narratives? In fact, neither trend should cause much trouble.