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Countries around the world are in the midst of demographic aging. While the pace of aging varies, all nations are, or soon will be, faced with important issues regarding the health of and health care provision for their expanding older populations.
In particular, countries need to plan for the health needs of older women. Although the elderly are as diverse demographically, socially, and economically as the nonelderly, one notable difference between these broad groups is the relative number of men and women. While boys outnumber girls in all countries, gender differences in mortality eventually produce a changing sex balance within a population. By age 30 or 35, women start to outnumber men, and the absolute female advantage increases with age. Elderly women greatly outnumber elderly men in most nations, and therefore the health and socioeconomic problems of the elderly are, to a large extent, the problems of elderly women.
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