[IELTS] The increasing number of old people

IELTS Writing Task 2

(Question)

The number of old people is increasing in many countries. Some people think this causes problems, while others think old people play an important role. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Planning

1. The increasing number of old people causes problem.

1. Old people tend to have conventional concepts compared to young people. Cannot keep up with modern society. Biased opinion based on their experience.
2. Cannot secure national competitiveness. Lack of workforce.

2. Old people play an important role

1. Have lots of experience. Lots of wisdom could be helpful for youth
2. Less physically demanding jobs

It is said that the increasing number of old people can contribute to societies, whereas it gives rise to social problems as others believe. Although it has both positive and negative effects, I believe that it evokes serious problems since they use their age as a weapon.

To begin with, there will be more reasons why old people play a vital role in societies, but the primary reason is that they own a variety of wisdom which are gained from their long period of experience. It is a fact that various kinds of wisdom are helpful for the youth who lack of experience in various fields. In addition to that fact, the elderly have the ability to foresee the consequence by remembering the same incident that occurred in their life. For that reason, giving pieces of advice for the youngsters is possible when they are needed to make significant decision. Moreover, old people can engage in works that require less intensity that young people avoid, which can assist in sustaining the society.

On the other hand, based on two notable reasons, I firmly believe that the augmenting number of the old induces troubles. First of all, the vast majority of old people tend to have biased opinion based on their experience over their entire period of life. It is because the elderly people have conventional concepts compared to young people, causing social conflicts between the young and the old. Furthermore, due to the decline of the birth rate, an aging society is approaching, so that the lack of workforce is inevitable. For that reason, it is impossible to secure national competitiveness, and the large quantities of people are likely to leave the countries.

In conclusion, even though the elderly people can take part in helping society, I consider the phenomenon as being pessimistic since ideological conflicts and lacking of workforce will take place.