The number of elderly people worldwide will outnumber children for the first time in 2045, according to a new United Nations report.

The study, from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, comes as growing numbers of experts suggest the advent of a “demographic winter” which could constitute a major international crisis in the coming century. 

According to the report, “World Population Ageing 2009,” 22 per cent of the world’s population will be older than 60 years within forty years – a jump from 11 per cent in 2009, and eight per cent in 1950.

A trend of low birth rates perpetuated worldwide with the ascendancy of contraception and abortion has caused the elderly population to increase by 2.6 per cent per year – three times faster than the overall world population growth. The 60+ age group will triple its size at the beginning of the millenium, reaching 2 billion by 2050.

The UN noted that the imbalance will have a major impact on the worldwide working-age community – upon whom it will fall to support the disproportionately aged population. The dramatic shift in demographics, they said, will impact life in various aspects, including economic growth, investment, consumption, pensions, taxation, and health care.

“As children account for a declining proportion of the population, there may be a reduction in the number of schools just as the increasing share of the older population begins to require more long-term care facilities,” wrote the authors of the report. “In the political arena, population aging may shape voting patterns and political representation.”