One of the pressing issues facing many nations today and tomorrow is that concerning the aging population. For government and those in the health sector¹ it rates high on the national priority list. For students trying to pass English language tests it is a useful topic to have a good grounding in as it often appears in reading, writing, speaking and/or listening sections.

So let's not 'rest on our laurels²' let's get into action...

Late last week came the news from Shanghai that demand for retirement³ homes in the city was outpacing supply. Shanghai, one of the first places in China that is seeing negative population growth, is aging fast and trying to address the problems that go with the worrying trend.

By the end of last year, more than 20 percent of Shanghai's permanent residents were aged⁴ above 60, official figures showed. By 2030, it is expected to increase to more than 33 percent. Senior citizens in the city have an average life span of 81.

Now this phenomenon is increasingly common in more developed nations though for China the situation is more complex.

Particularly, the number of people of working age - 15 to 59 - is in decline, as a result of the one-child policy.

In addition, many young people seek more independence and tend to live with their own family, instead of staying with their parents or grandparents.

The problem today in Shanghai is that there are not enough beds in retirement homes for the growing numbers of elderly who appear to be marginalized in today's society.

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Now if you are able to broach⁵ and communicate any of the above issues using some of the vocabulary and expressions listed below you will place yourself in a better position to get a high score regarding any test that deals with gerontology.

Vocabulary and Expressions

• Pressing issues = a matter of concern, problems that are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore and demanding of our attention; e.g. the global credit crisis has become a pressing political issue recently.

• National priority list = those issues that are of importance to a nation; e.g. one of the issues on China's national priority list this last year has been curbing⁶ inflation

• To have a good grounding in = to have a good foundation about a certain subject, to have a good understanding about something; e.g. after spending many years in Asia she had a good grounding in cross cultural relations

• 'Rest on our laurels' = to be lazy, to sit back and rely on past achievements rather than making new plans and preparations for future goals and actions; e.g. after winning the gold in Athens he rested on his laurels and failed to make the qualifying final in this years Beijing Games.

• Demand for ... outpacing supply = when there is more want for a product or service that is greater than the ability to produce it; e.g. with the recent milk scandal more consumers were turning to drinking soymilk and demand for homemade soymilk machines had outpaced supply

• Negative population growth = this occurs when the number of people dying is greater than the number of new births; e.g. in Australia negative population growth is balanced by immigration such that 25% of the population are born outside of the country.

• Address the problems = pay attention to the issue, look at the situation; e.g. by failing to address the problems within the US economy earlier the government has made matters worse

• Average life span = the normal, usual, expected time a person or organism or object lives for; e.g. the average life span of the Great Ocean Turtle is 60 years

• Marginalized and undervalued = put on the outer position, no longer appreciated or given attention; e.g. after he spoke⁷ up at the meeting against his boss the worker was from then on marginalized and undervalued at the company

• Broach = to open up a subject for discussion; e.g. they failed to broach her bad habits and the marriage ended in divorce

• Gerontology - the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging.