ABSTRACT
We have been witnessing perhaps the most important demographic shift in the history of mankind—the rapid aging of the earth’s population. Today, there are approximately 600 million people over the age of sixty living on this planet. By year 2050 this figure is expected to almost quadruple to 2 billion (United Nations, 2002). The number of people in the older age brackets will grow even faster (World Bank, 1994).
