The falling birthrate threatens a disaster so costly no politician dares think about it | Sonia Sodha

A demographic timebomb caused by an ageing, shrinking population is looming for many western countries, so where are the policies to defuse it?

A conference on changing demographics I attended last week tackled the fact that,while we are living longer - a great product of medical innovation - many of us will also experience extended periods later in life with physical and mental decline, so requiring more health and social care than inthe past. Yet falling birthrates mean there will be fewer working-age taxpayers, raising the question of how we foot the bill.

As I listened, the Institute for Fiscal Studies' description of this general election campaign being aconspiracy of silence" came to mind. Neither the Conservatives nor the Labour party are confronting voters with the tough fiscal choices facing the country. Further cuts on already underfunded public services are baked into spending plans accepted by both parties. To avoid them, either taxes or the national debt would have to rise in a context of high interest rates, unless theeconomy somehow starts booming. And so the election has inevitably ended up feeling a bit like a phoney war. Difficult decisions inevitably await a new government on 5 July, but we are none the wiser on exactly how they will play out.