Health and medical care In the context of OECD countries, it has been found that while the medical expenditure for the entire population would increase by 6.7 times between 1986 and 2025, that of the elderly population is expected to rise by 10 times during the same period (Dhar Chakraborty, 2004).
If the same cost pattern were assumed, there would be a tremendous shift of resources. In the context of Asian countries, the main difference is that the problem is likely to be more acute as ageing occurs at lower per capita income levels vis-à-vis OECD countries because of the globalisation of public health measures and the quality of health care.