The United Nations says that by 2050, there will be more than 2 billion people worldwide aged 60 or over ... more than three times the 600 million (around 2 billion) elders we have today. Now imagine what the retirement and health care costs will be.

To visualize what the aging population will look like in eight industrialized countries over the next 40 years, check out GE's interactive graph.

Here is a comparison of 2010 aging population of China and USA: