Promoting sustainable development in the aging world

We are facing challenges due to demographic transition, though at different paces and levels. The aging of society has important implications for sustainable development and people's well-being. Older persons need to be active agents of societal development in order to achieve truly transformative, inclusive, and sustainable development outcomes. Linking research projects to policies and practices associated with older persons is key to ensuring their well-being, especially during the era of COVID-19.

This workshop will outline a vision for researchers and policymakers to create a favorable environment for scholars and researchers at research institutes and universities to exchange and collaborate on further research. Discussions will focus on three main areas: (1) population dynamics and data sciences, (2) aging and sustainable human well-being, and (3) migration and global human capital.

In particular, the workshop aims:

1) to exchange challenges and opportunities to promote sustainability in the aging world

2) to extend and strengthen cooperation among social researchers and demographers

The workshop will take place on 7 June 2021, 13:00–16:30 Indochina Time (ICT)-UTC +7. 

Abstract

Demographic perspectives on sustainable development and COVID-19

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, apart from directly affecting mortality and health, hampers progress towards achieving sustainable development since it disrupts schooling, health services, the economy and climate actions, among other things. Since the beginning of the pandemic, demographers have been active in assessing the impact of COVID-19 on population dynamics, particularly mortality but also in identifying vulnerable subpopulations. This talk provides an overview of the relevance of demographic perspectives on sustainable development and the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how demographic concepts and methodological tools can be useful to provide insights into these issues.

Human population holds a central role in the discussions on the issues of sustainable development and the COVID-19 pandemic. The ultimate goal of sustainable development is to improve human wellbeing while ensuring sustainable and resilient societies. Strengthening human capacity such as through improved health, nutrition and education thus plays an important role in enabling sustainable development. Demography matters for sustainable development in several ways from offering indicators and measurement of sustainable development progress to providing insights into current and future population structure, composition and distribution. Demographic perspectives also provide empirical knowledge on the People’s dimension of the 5Ps of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which comprises the first five goals related to poverty, nutrition, health, education and gender equality. Demographic studies can look into the interconnections between these goals and other SDGs as well as can help identify subgroups of population who may be left behind in the development process.