Actually old people are a burden only in western societies where there is no family dynamic. Older people are extremely valuable in Eastern society and adds great productivity. Older people look after their grand children allowing both husband and wife to work and earn more money (adding capital). They also do household chores to help their families and volunteer in various community tasks. Older people are extremely important in allowing younger families to dedicate more time to work and earning money where as in Western societies they simply put older people into nursing homes which drains the social welfare costs. Tell me how many countries are suffering right now because of older people?
In the West:
Husband works, Wife doesn't work to look after kids, Grandparents in nursing home costing country money
In East:
Husband works, wife works, grandparents look after kids and cooks/cleans and volunteers.
Old people are only a burden in the West
Now Africa, Indian sub continent etc all have younger population but are all extremely poor, malnourished and crime is rampant. Why? Young people + no jobs or opportunities leads to crime, poverty and a huge drain on the country. Most countries have problems because they have a younger population causing trouble than having issues with an older population (especially meaningless in an Eastern cultural concept).