调高退休年龄英文论文.docx

Is the Increasing Retirement Age a Blessing or a Curse?Word count:2353Is the Increasing Retirement Age a Blessing or a Curse?1.IntroductionGreat Britain is facing a severe problem of all the ageing society. The British population is turning old as a result of the constantly extending lifespan and the lack of birth from young families concerned with the high life cost. In the United Kingdom, there was an annual increase from 15.8% to 18.0% in the proportion of people aged 65 and over in the period from 2006 to 2016. In contrast, the occupation of working-agepopulation decreased from 64.9% in 2006 to 63.1% in 2016(ONS,2017b). In general, a decreasing amount of people is working to feed an increasing number of elders.The heavier burden from increasing number of elders finally would finally become the problem of the U.K. government. The pension expenditure and the budget for medical insurance will increase synchronously with the rise in the number of old people. Regarding the pensions, it is a necessary guarantee for all the citizens to live a life when they are too old to meet the requirement of a job. The British state pension age is 65, which means over 18% British people can receive pensions from the government without a job. The pension expenditure in the financial year 2014/15 was 108 billion pounds which occupied 42% welfare spending of the British government (ONS,2017a). Medical insurance in Britain, which accounts for the medical services of British people, is called the NHS (National Health Service) and is mainly funded from tax. As the rising average age, medical requirement is rocketing, which can be indicated from the increasing department of health budget. In 5 years from 2010 to 2015, the department of health budget increased by 10 billion pounds from 111.9 billion pounds to 121.9 billion pounds, which was an approximate 8.9% rise (Department of Health,2016).Concerning the ageing problem in the United Kingdom, an increase in the retirement age may relieve