The industrialized countries today are all facing a similar economic problem: how to pay the pensions of retired people. The problem is basically the result of changes in the population. Thanks to improved health and medical care, more people are living to an advanced age. That means governments have to spend more on pensions. At the same time, the birth rate has gone down, so there are fewer young people working and paying taxes. Thus, the government receives less money for its pension funds. The situation has become even more serious in some countries because governments in the 1980s ans 1990s encouraged people to retire at an early age. The aim was to create more jobs for young people, but govenments also had to increase their spending on pensions.