国际英语新闻：Global aging challenges sovereign debt sustainability: S&P report

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Government debt could reach three times of the GDP in four decades in most advanced economies if current age-related spending trends continue, the latest study by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said.

The report, "Global Aging 2010: An Irreversible Truth," found that population aging will lead to profound changes in economic growth prospects for countries around the world, and lead to heightened budgetary pressures from greater age-related spending needs.

Without appropriate budgetary adjustments, further pension and health-care system reforms, or structural measures to improve sovereigns' economic growth potential, the future debt burden of the majority of sovereigns included in the study would increase to historically uNPRecedented levels, the report warned.

The report is an update on S&P's 2007 study on the sustainability of public finances in the light of demographic changes. The 2010 report covers 49 countries, and more than two-thirds of the world's population.

"No other force is likely to shape the future of national economic health, public finances, and national policies as the irreversible rate at which the world's population is growing older," S&P's credit analyst Marko Mrsnik said.

S&P's projection, based on estimates from the national government, the European Union, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Monetary Fund, sees deterioration in public finances between now and 2050 as particularly rampant in advanced economies.