关注世界人口老龄化问题

In industrialized countries, the number of people reaching retirement age is growing, while the number of working age people is declining.

在工业化国家，退休人口的数量在递增，同时，工作人口的数量在递减。

The number of people aged 80 and older is growing at a faster rate than any other age group worldwide.

在全球范围内，处于80岁以上（包括80岁）年龄层的人口的数量增长速度超过其他任何一个年龄层的人口的增长速度。

By the year 2050, there will be almost twice as many older non-working people than there are now, in contrast to the total number of workers.

到2050年，相对工作的人口，非工作人口的数量会增长到目前的两倍。

In 1950, there were 12 people of working age for every person age 65 or older. In 2010, there are only 9 contributing to old age support in their countries. That means that here in the U.S., fewer people are contributing to Social Security and Medicare in proportion to the number of people needing and using those programs.

在1950年，达到或超过65岁的人与参加工作的人的人口比例是1:12,。在2010年，变成了1:9。这意味着，在美国，相对那些需要社会安全福利保险养老的人的数量，提供社会保险人的数量变少了。

EarthSky spoke with Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington D.C.- based think-tank, about why the population is getting older. He said it’s because couples are having fewer children, on average.

EarthSky就人口老龄化原因的话题采访了卡尔．霍伯。他是美国人口咨询局的一名人口统计学家，也是华盛顿智囊团的成员。他说老龄化是因为平均下来夫妻生的孩子少了。

Carl Haub: If a couple has two children themselves, then they basically replace themselves. But if they have 1.2 or 1.3 or 1.4, every succeeding generation gets smaller and smaller.

卡尔．霍伯：如果一对夫妻要两个孩子，那在数量上刚好能取代他们，但是，如果一对夫妻平均只生1.2,1.3或1.4个孩子，那后代人口的数量会逐代减少。

Haub said that some governments, such as Spain and Russia, have offered couples incentives to have more children.

霍伯说，比如西班牙、俄罗斯等一些政府采取一些激励政策鼓励夫妻多生孩子。

Carl Haub: It’s quite a phenomenon, in world history. We’ve never seen this before.

卡尔．霍伯：这是世界史上的一种奇特的现象，之前从未发生过。