Peter Cohan wrote here earlier today about the boomer generation bubble, and the threat we present to Social Security when we mob the program. Unfortunately, the same problem faces a number of other countries as well.

The largest of these is China. Predictably, its policy of one child per household has sharply skewed the age distribution in its population. The U.N. study of world population prospects shows that the percentage of elderly in the Chinese population will also grow expansively over the next 30 years, from 24% in 2010 to 42.5% by 2050.

Other countries are facing this problem today. The birth rate in countries such as Italy and Germany are already well below replacement rate, meaning they will either have to depend on the reviled gastarbeiters, or watch their economies shrink.

In fact, statistics from the U.N.'s study show that the question of supporting a large elderly population will become a worldwide challenge. It found that the percentage of elderly in the human race has risen from 8% in 1950 to 11% in 2007, and projects it will climb to 22% by 2050.

From these grim statistics, I hold little hope that we can expect help with, or much sympathy for, our plight from other countries.