From Stockholm to Seoul to Santiago, policymakers are seeking to hoist own savings in stock and bond funds, tempt young foreign workers, find cheaper ways to provide elder solicitude , and persuade companies to hire or retain older workers. On their own, none of these approaches is seen as a practical solution: Germany would have to more than double its annual intake of 185,000 foreigners to make up for fewer births, while leaving to Japan, now just 56,000 a year, would have to spring eleven fold. And slashing pensions enough to guarantee long-term solvency would mean political suicide. But a combination of sensible changes might make a big difference.

Maturing nations with young and growing populations, meantime , face other issues . India is on pace to catch up and pass China’s 1.4 billion population in three terms , for example. The trouble is, 40% of Indians drop out of school by age 10. Efforts to greatly expand education could determine whether India is a future economic superpower or if it will be burdened with the world’s biggest population of poor illiterates. In Iran, burst of educated youth now joining the workforce could fuel a takeoff — or foment political strife if there are no jobs.

Why the sudden attention to a demographic trend that has been obvious for decades ? In part, it’s because the future is already dawning in many nations. In South Korea and Japan, which have firm cultural aversions to immigration , small plants , construction companies, and health clinics are relying more on “temporary” workers from the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. In reality they are becoming permanent second-class citizens. In China’s northern industrial belt, state industries are struggling over how to lay off unneeded middle-age workers when there is no social safety net to support them.

Through Europe, meantime , baby boomers such as Jenny François in France are retiring in droves — even though the first of this generation won’t reach 65 until 2011. Most of Europe’s state-funded pension systems encourage early retirement. Now, 85.5% of adults in France quit work by age 60, and only 1.3% work beyond 65. In Italy, 62% of young people call it quits by age 55. That compares with 47% of people who earn wages until they are 65 in the U.S. and 55% in Japan. With jobless rates still high, there’s been little promptness to change . “I feel like I am in good enough shape to work, but there isn’t enough work to go around,” says Uwe Bohn, pouring a cup of coffee in his 12th-floor apartment in a drab Berlin high-rise. Bohn, 61, retired four years ago after losing his civil-engineering job and failing for years to find firm work.

Devil Math

But financial pressures and the chance of future labor shortages are spurring action. In France, business unions , and the government will begin discussion in February aimed at changing early-retirement rules. “We must change fundamental points of that system,” says Ernest-Antoine Seillière, chairman of French industrial investment firm Wendel Investissement and head of French employer group MEDEF.

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