What the Leaders are Saying

 | September 19, 2005

What the Leaders are Saying

"To cope with the low fertility rate and the aging population, we have to map out a long-term population policy to prepare the post-unification era through economic, demographic and environmental approaches.''
  — Kim Geun-tae, Health-Welfare Minister, Korea

"Given that aging populations could reduce the EU's growth potential by as much as 1 percentage point by 2040, failure to reap the potential gains from the Lisbon Strategy might endanger the European social model as we know it. The "no-reform" option is simply too expensive to afford."
  — Joaquin Almunia, EU Commissioner, Economic and Monetary Affairs

"If the FDA is going to attack 70-year-olds and stop their medications, there's a big problem in that country."
  — Tony Howard, President of CanaRx, in response to the United States FDA's seizure of Canadian prescription drugs.

"There is a waste of people, particularly between 50 and pension age who still have a lot to offer. They are disproportionately likely to be unemployed and disproportionately likely to be on long-term disability benefits, even though they say they'd like to work."
  — David Willetts, Shadow Secretary for Pensions, United Kingdom