Demographic Theories and the Regional Aspect of Population Ageing
Population ageing is a major demographic trend of our time. The increase in the proportion and number of elderly people requires that the governments of “ageing” countries develop measures to mitigate the effects of demographic ageing reflected in two interrelated aspects: maintaining sustainable socio-economic development and ensuring a decent quality of life for the elderly. At the same time, as the experience of developed and developing countries shows, in order to ensure effective implementation of the measures it is necessary to take into consideration regularities and territorial features of the age structure transformation. The relevance of our research is determined by the need for scientific understanding of the process of demographic ageing taking into account the system nature of its characteristics (global nature and inevitability in terms of the narrowed reproduction of the population) and the multiplicity of implications for socio-economic development. The aim of our research is to identify the regularities and regional features of population ageing. We carry out the research with the use of general scientific methods (logical and system approaches, structural-functional analysis, generalization), statistical methods (grouping, sampling, comparison, and generalization), as well as graphical and tabular methods of data visualization. The article presents a review of theoretical concepts that define the essence of the process of population ageing and the results of a comprehensive statistical analysis of the main indicators of changes in the age structure in retrospect and in prospect. We conclude that the nature of the process ofpopulation ageing is dialectical: on the one hand, it has been proven that there are phases of demographic transition universal for all countries; on the other hand it has been revealed that the specifics of change in the age structure of local areas differ in the time of passage of these phases, intensity of increase in the number of elderly population, as well as the influence of factors that are external in relation to the demographic system (e.g., economic and political situation in the country, wars, disasters, etc.). Areas that have a comparable proportion of the elderly in the population can vary significantly according to quality characteristics of this socio-demographic group. In this regard, there is a practical need to obtain objective and relevant information about the situation in contemporary Russian and Mongolian societies; it is also necessary to develop a set of measures to adjust socio-economic development taking into account the specifics revealed.