Can changes in education alter future population ageing in Asia and Europe?

While population ageing is rising, the educational composition of elderly is rather heterogeneous. We assess educational differences in future population ageing in Asia and Europe and how future population ageing in Asia and Europe would change if the educational composition of its populations would change. We do so using a comparative population ageing measure that recalculates old-age thresholds after accounting for differences in life expectancy, and the likelihood of adults surviving to higher ages. We construct projected life-tables (2015-2020, …, 2045-2050) by educational level and sex for different regions of Asia and Europe. Based on these life-tables we calculated the future comparative prospective old-age thresholds by educational level and sex. We find that in both Asia and Europe and among both men and women, the projected old-age thresholds are higher for higher educated people than for less educated people. While Europe has a larger projected share of elderly in the population than Asia, Europe’s older population is better educated. In alternate future scenarios in which populations hypothetically have higher levels of education, the projected shares of elderly in the population decrease across all regions of Asia and Europe, but more so in Asia. Our results highlight the effectiveness of investing in education as a policy response to the challenges associated with population ageing in Asia and Europe. Such investments are more effective in the Asian regions, where the educational infrastructure is less developed