Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

12-1:30pm Population aging is much in the news, with talk about health care and pensions as the Canadian population ages. We ask in this talk, based on the speaker''s current research in Canada and the US, the extent to which population aging is indeed a challenge. We further ask whether population aging is an equal challenge in Canada and the US. How does the current economic situation affect the picture? What about diversity, inequalities and changing family/household living arrangements? The specific focus in this talk is on the circumstances of those aged 45-64 in Canada and the U.S. in the late 1990s and 2000''s, how their lives look as they grow older and what policy challenges are posed. Data come from a wide range of sources, and include analysis of two waves in each country of nationally representative surveys, as well as qualitative interviews conducted in late 2009 and 2010. We find that demographic aging per se matters far less to the prospects of those presently in mid-life in the two cou