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

人口老龄化让经济学家在各方面都很担忧，从激增的养老金到长期疲软的经济增长。

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.

老龄化趋势从几个方面会减缓经济的增长。第一，增加产出的新工人更少了。许多国家的劳动力已经在减少，由于人口结构的变化。

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.

随着老年人数量的增加，政府可能会忽略对教育和基础设施的经济增长刺激性公共投资，而是投资养老金和医疗保障。工作的人必须要承担更高的税来支持更多的养老金领取者。

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

但是对经济增加最大的打击源于降低生产力，因为一些能力，尤其是身体上的，会随着年龄的增长而退化。

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.

一些措施可能有所帮助。将政策重点放在延长工作时间上是有意义的，比如提高退休年龄。随着年龄的增长，公司可以调整员工的职位，以充分利用年龄的优势，比如丰富的经验和人脉关系。

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.

最好的办法是移民。外国年轻劳动力的流入几乎能解决老龄化抑制经济增长的所有问题。移民不仅能增加劳动力和新的纳税人，还意味着更多和更年轻的公司，和对新科技更开放的态度。

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.

科技在某些情况下也能战胜老龄化带来的抑制作用。当年轻劳动力稀缺时，制造商投资于自动化，从而收获更快速的生产力增长。