Population ageing has economists worried about everything from soaring pension costs to chronically weak economic growth.

人口老齡化讓經濟學家在各方面都很擔憂，從激增的養老金到長期疲軟的經濟增長。

The trend slows growth in several ways. One is that there are fewer new workers to boost output. Workforces in many countries are already shrinking because of demographic change.

老齡化趨勢從幾個方面會減緩經濟的增長。第一，增加產出的新工人更少了。許多國家的勞動力已經在減少，由于人口結構的變化。

As the number of elderly people increases, governments may neglect growth-boosting public investment in education and infrastructure in favour of spending on pensions and health care. People in work, required to support ever more pensioners, must pay higher taxes.

隨著老年人數量的增加，政府可能會忽略對教育和基礎設施的經濟增長刺激性公共投資，而是投資養老金和醫療保障。工作的人必須要承擔更高的稅來支持更多的養老金領取者。

But the biggest hit to growth comes from weakening productivity because some capabilities, notably physical ones, deteriorate with age.

但是對經濟增加最大的打擊源于降低生產力，因為一些能力，尤其是身體上的，會隨著年齡的增長而退化。

There are some measures that could help. It would make sense to focus policy efforts on keeping people in work longer—by raising retirement ages, for example. Companies can tweak employees’ roles as they get older in order to make best use of the advantages of age, such as extensive experience and professional connections.

一些措施可能有所幫助。將政策重點放在延長工作時間上是有意義的，比如提高退休年齡。隨著年齡的增長，公司可以調整員工的職位，以充分利用年齡的優勢，比如豐富的經驗和人脈關系。

Best of all would be more immigration. An influx of young foreign workers would address nearly all the ways in which population ageing depresses growth. It would not only expand the labour force and create new taxpayers, but would mean more and younger companies, and greater openness to new technologies.

最好的辦法是移民。外國年輕勞動力的流入幾乎能解決老齡化抑制經濟增長的所有問題。移民不僅能增加勞動力和新的納稅人，還意味著更多和更年輕的公司，和對新科技更開放的態度。

Technology may at some point overcome the stifling effect of ageing. When young workers are sufficiently scarce, manufacturers invest in more automation, and experience faster productivity growth as a result.

科技在某些情況下也能戰勝老齡化帶來的抑制作用。當年輕勞動力稀缺時，制造商投資于自動化，從而收獲更快速的生產力增長。