By 2040, around 20 per cent of the population is expected to be over 65, compared with 15 per cent currently. https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2018/sp-gov-2018-08-08.html  8/18  8/8/2018  Demographic Change and Recent Monetary Policy | Speeches | RBA  Graph 8  All else equal, as the population ages, the proportion of people who are working could be expected to decline.
The sea lanes opened by these voyages facilitated a thriving intercontinental trade - although the high costs of and the risks associated with long voyages tended to limit trade to a relatively small set of commodities of high value relative to their weight and bulk, such as sugar, tobacco, spices, tea, silk, and precious metals.