Singapore crowned as Asia's most resilient country to ageing and automation: study

All Asian countries ranked in the bottom half of the resilience index.

Singapore was crowned as the most resilient nation to societal ageing and automation in Asia even as all countries in the region occupy the bottom half of an index released by Mercer and Marsh & McLennan Insights.

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On a global scale, the nation ranked 13th out of 20, with a score of 14.6 in the Ageing and Automation Resilience Index.Denmark, Australia and Sweden held the top three spots, with scores of 20.4, 20.3 and 20.0 respectively.

Elderly Singaporean workers have the highest disproportionate risk of automation than younger workers, compared to other major global economies. By 2030, 35% of the working-age population in Singapore is expected to be above the age of 50.

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Regional neighbours Japan, China and South Korea placed 17th, 19th and 20th respectively, scoring 8.9, 7.4 and 7.1.

“Failing to reinvest the returns from automation into workers would of course create serious fallouts: social and income inequality will increase, as will retirement savings gaps and pressures on pension systems,” the report's authors wrote.

The index is based on the factors a country has in place to deal with societal ageing and automation, like a higher older worker labour force participation, an adequate level of pension fund assets, favourable socio-economic conditions, and appropriate policy and legal conditions, as well as the strength of their local retirement system.