Milinda Moragoda requests candidates to address the time bomb issue of aging

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Former Minister and founder of the Pathfinder Foundation, Milinda Moragoda has called on all 35 Presidential candidates to address the "aging time bomb" which is facing Sri Lanka today. In a note to the Presidential candidates, Milinda Moragoda points out that today, around 13.9% or 3 million over the sixties make up the 20.96 million people living in Sri Lanka. At current estimates that figure will rise to 28.6% by 2050 which, based on present population levels, will mean around 5.9 million pensioners who will need care. Moragoda notes, no one seems to be addressing these problems and yet they are vital to the security of our economy. He questions, as the working population shrinks as a percentage of the overall population, where are the taxes going to come from to build more hospitals, provide more care for the elderly and yet keep the country functioning? While Moragoda has raised several questions from the Presidential candidates he concludes that the youth of the country is important, especially because they are the workforce of tomorrow, but our senior citizens are extremely important as the time bomb ticks.