This indeed is a very real possibility, as demonstrated by the actions of many mortgage lenders in the US during the mid-2000s. Even in the EU, where loan underwriting standards are generally higher, loan delinquencies in certain weak economies have reached double-digit levels.
The significant point for us here is that the bubble we have experienced has coincided closely with the turning point in these demographic dynamics. Population ageing: inverse dependency ratio Let me show you some telling figures on the inverse dependency ratio, which indicates how many people of working age it takes to provide for one dependent person.