Population Aging in Canada: What Life Cycle Deficit Age Profiles Are Telling Us about Living Standards

Abstract

In this article, we develop a new longitudinal dataset for Canada based on the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) methodology. The NTA constitute a micro–macro linkage methodology that provides a complete picture of economic flows by age and measures the way in which individuals produce, consume, save, and share resources at each age on a retrospective basis. In this article, we introduce the NTA and evidence their link with micro–macro methodologies. Then, we provide for the first time individual age consumption and labour income profiles in Canada for the period between 1998 and 2013. The longitudinal dimension of the study sheds light on how the gap between consumption and labour income has changed over that period and raises questions about the future of living standards in Canada.

Consumption and labour income over the life cycle in Mali: A National Transfer Accounts approach

“…The theoretical foundations of the NTA methodology are contained in Mason (2011a, 2011b) and the implementation procedures are available in UN (2013). The micro-macro approach provides an exhaustive picture of economic flows and measures how individuals produce, consume, save and distribute resources according to age (Mérette and Navaux 2019).…”

“…During the demographic transition, a window of opportunity opens to the country where the age structure of the population is favourable to economic gains (Lee et al 2008) -economic potential emerges. However, this economic potential cannot be effectively realised automatically as it requires the implementation of adequate public policies in health, education, labour market and governance (Bahan and Dramani 2020;Mérette and Navaux 2019;Lee et al 2008).…”

Researching Ageing

“…The methodology is described in a technical manual published by the United Nations in 2013. Some recent developments using NTAs are found in Mérette and Navaux (2019) and d'Albis et al (2017a, 2017b. Today, the NTA is a well-established empirical tool used to understand cross-age economy, with harmonized data available for about 70 countries (see www.ntaccounts.org).…”

Biopsychosocial determinant of quality of life of older adults in Pakistan and Canada

“…The number of individuals above 60 years is going to increase to 23.76 million in 2030 in Pakistan ( 9 ). Similarly, the older Canadians accounted for 12% in 2010 and will account for 23% in 2030 ( 10 ). Pakistan and Canada are two countries, diverse in terms of culture, and socioeconomic growth and development.…”