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Abstract

Aging has increasingly become a significant societal concern, with impacts extending beyond the medical domain. Despite extensive research on aging’s multifaceted effects, there remains a need for a comprehensive review that summarizes current research on its societal implications from a non-medical perspective. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 986 documents from the Web of Science database, covering the period from 1970 to 2023. Using performance analysis and science mapping techniques, the study identifies key authors, journals, countries, articles, keywords, and trends within this research domain. Findings reveal a predominant focus on geriatrics, gerontology, and business economics, with a notable increase in publication volume over time. The keyword and trend analyses indicate a shift from a primarily medical focus to broader societal issues, such as economic growth, labor markets, consumer behavior, sustainable development, and healthy aging. This shift is accompanied by an evolving emphasis from research predominantly centered in the United States to a growing focus on China, reflecting heightened global and regional interest in the impacts of aging. The study underscores the need for further cross-disciplinary research that integrates insights from economics, sociology, and environmental sciences to better understand aging’s multifaceted effects and inform policy development.

Keywords

aging population aging societal impact social influence bibliometric analysis

Introduction

Aging represents a significant and pervasive challenge confronting global societies, with its multifaceted impacts progressively manifesting. According to the United Nations’ (UN) definition, as delineated by Cox (1956), aging is characterized by an increasing proportion of the population aged 65 and above, transitioning into aging, deep aging, and super-aging societies at thresholds of 7%, 14%, and 20%, respectively. Aging transcends mere demographic shifts, representing a complex, multi-dimensional societal phenomenon (Botwinick, 2013). With declining global fertility rates and advancements in medical technology, the proportion of the elderly population is steadily increasing, catalyzing significant societal transformations.

Previous research has demonstrated that the progression of aging significantly influences a nation’s economic growth (e.g., Q. Chen et al., 2022; Futagami & Nakajima, 2001). In its 2015 World Aging and Health Report, the World Health Organization (WHO) underscored the substantial societal and healthcare system pressures emerging from aging. These include the escalating demand for medical and long-term care services among the elderly, the sustainability of social security and pension systems, adjustments in labor markets and retirement policies, and other related factors (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Beyond macro-level impacts, the consequences of aging at the micro-level extend beyond traditional considerations of physiological health and disease (Zheng et al., 2024a, 2024b). Elderly individuals grapple with challenges such as decreased income post-retirement (Ghilarducci, 2010), cognitive decline (Bettio et al., 2017), mental health issues (Segal et al., 2018), and social isolation (Courtin & Knapp, 2017). Conversely, non-elderly individuals face issues such as difficulties in family caregiving due to caregivers shortages (Grossman & Webb, 2016), escalating medical expenses (J. Chen et al., 2023), delayed retirement caused by labor shortages (Berkman & Truesdale, 2023), and the burden of dependency (Skirbekk et al., 2022). Therefore, aging is not solely a health issue but a comprehensive societal concern involving social support systems, welfare policies, psychological cognition, and behavioral decision-making (Botwinick, 2013; Zheng et al., 2024a). The rapid growth of this phenomenon has made aging a global challenge, profoundly affecting societies, organizations, and individuals. As a result, it becomes imperative for policymakers, scholars, and professionals to focus on addressing the societal impacts and challenges posed by aging.

In current bibliometric analyses of aging, the majority of studies focus on health and medicine-related topics, including physical activity (Müller et al., 2016), healthy aging (Gu et al., 2019), cognitive abilities (Othman et al., 2022), and specific diseases (Zhang et al., 2023). A smaller number of articles from non-medical perspectives address the impact of aging on specific aspects, such as aging policies (Nan et al., 2020), aging in place (Seo & Lee, 2023), subjective well-being (Dominko & Verbič, 2019), and elderly workers (Lee & Kang, 2024). While reviews from geriatrics and gerontology (Neto et al., 2023; Shen et al., 2019) exist, comprehensive examinations of aging’s broader societal impacts, particularly from non-medical perspectives, are lacking. Notably, Mahmood and Dhakal (2023) conducted a similar review, but their narrow focus on social relationships and limited time frame constrained their analysis. In contrast, this research broadens the scope to include broader societal impacts, such as consumer behaviors, providing a more comprehensive perspective and identifying new research directions.

This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to comprehensively explore the societal impacts of aging from a non-medical perspective. The objective involves systematically reviewing existing research findings to identify current hotspots and trends concerning the societal impacts of aging (including influential authors, countries, journals, and publications), and reveal the multi-dimensional characteristics of the societal impacts of aging. This research endeavors to offer novel perspectives and a theoretical foundation for the development of effective policies and the pursuit of future targeted research on the societal impacts of aging. Specifically, the study addresses three research questions: (1) What are the overall research characteristics and publication trends in studying the societal impacts of aging? (2) Which are the influential authors, journals, countries, and articles in such research? (3) What are the popular keywords and research trends in such research?

Methods

Research Design

Bibliometrics has assumed an increasingly pivotal role in research. By qualitatively analyzing academic literature, including citations, author relationships, and keywords, bibliometric analysis reveals trends, associations, and influences within a discipline’s development (Donthu et al., 2021). Recently, advancements in internet and big data technologies, along with continual iterations and enhancements of visualization analysis tools, have spurred rapid development in bibliometric methods. These advancements not only facilitate deeper insights into specific research domains but also broaden bibliometrics’ applicability across diverse fields, including economics (Bonilla et al., 2015), management science (Merigó & Yang, 2017), consumer behavior (Cruz-Cárdenas et al., 2021), and supply chain finance (Xu et al., 2018). Accordingly, this study utilizes bibliometric analysis methods to explore and delineate the current research landscape regarding the societal impacts of aging, adhering to the four-step bibliometric analysis process outlined by Donthu et al. (2021).

Bibliometric Techniques

According to Donthu et al. (2021), selecting bibliometric analysis techniques that align with the research objectives and scope is a critical first step before data collection. This ensures that data collection is aligned with the chosen methodologies, thereby avoiding premature data gathering, which may limit the analytical approaches available to scholars (Donthu et al., 2021).

This study utilizes two primary bibliometric techniques: performance analysis and science mapping. Performance analysis, a descriptive statistical method, identifies key elements within a research field by assessing metrics such as the number of publications, which indicates productivity, and citation counts, which reflect scholarly influence (Cobo et al., 2011; Donthu et al., 2021). In contrast, science mapping focuses on visualizing relationships among research components, such as journals, authors, countries, and documents, to highlight influential elements within the field (Baker et al., 2021; Cobo et al., 2011).

The science mapping approach in this study encompasses five analytical methods: citation analysis, co-citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-word analysis. Citation analysis identifies the most influential documents in the network, while co-authorship analysis reveals collaborative relationships among authors or institutions (Donthu et al., 2021). Co-citation analysis uncovers the knowledge structure of the field by analyzing shared citations among documents, whereas bibliographic coupling highlights recent advancements by linking documents that cite common sources (Donthu et al., 2021). Co-word analysis, in contrast, identifies prevalent keywords and research trends based on the frequency of keyword occurrence in documents (Donthu et al., 2021).

The analytical tools employed in this study include Excel, Publish or Perish 8 (POP; Harzing, 2010), and VOSviewer software. VOSviewer is a visualization tool for science mapping, while Excel and POP are utilized for descriptive statistical analysis.

Search Strategy and Data Collection

Data were obtained on December 12, 2023, from the well-known Web of Science (WOS) database. The selection of the WOS database was driven by several factors, including its comprehensive coverage and the reliability and high quality of its data (Pranckutė, 2021). Moreover, following the advice on database selection for bibliometric analysis provided by Donthu et al. (2021), opting for a single database eliminates the need for data merging and cleaning, thereby reducing the risk of errors resulting from manual operations.

Given the focal point of this study is the societal impact of aging, the search strategy encompasses three categories of keywords: aging, societal, and impact, each including their respective synonyms. To comprehensively gather literature relevant to the topic, the search was conducted without restricting time or research areas. However, to ensure the quality of the academic literature, only document types classified as “articles” were chosen, and the publication language was limited to English. Thus, employing a carefully designed search strategy along with database filtering criteria, this study ultimately gathered 986 documents for inclusion in the bibliometric analysis. Specifically, the complete search strategy is as follows:

((TI=("aging" OR "ageing")) AND TI=("social" OR "societal" OR "public" OR "community" OR "economic*" OR "population" OR "citizen")) AND TI=("impact" OR "influence*" OR "effect*" OR "implication*" OR "consequence*" OR "outcome*" OR "significance*" OR "ramification*" OR "change*") and Article (Document Types) and English (Languages)

The detailed workflow for the bibliometric analysis in this study is illustrated in Figure 1. Significantly, since this research involves quantitative analysis of publicly available published literature and does not entail empirical data, ethical approval or any form of consent is unnecessary.

Figure 1.

Bibliometric workflow as per Donthu et al. (2021).

Results and Discussion

Holistic Features and Publication Trends

To comprehend the holistic features of research on the societal impact of aging, this study conducted a descriptive performance analysis of the 986 included documents using Excel and POP. As depicted in Table 1, the temporal scope of these 986 documents spans from 1970 to 2023, encompassing 53 years. During this period, the total citations amounted to 23,583, with an average annual citation of 444.96, and an average per-document citation of 23.92. The mean number of authors per document was 3.91, with respective h-index and g-index values of 69 and 125. Further analysis, excluding articles with zero citations, revealed that 850 articles received citations, constituting 86.2% of the total. This suggests a generally high quality of literature in this domain. Among the 850 cited articles, in comparison to the metrics of the initial 986 articles, there was an increase in the average per-document citations to 27.74 and a marginal rise in the average number of authors per document to 3.93. This can be attributed to the unchanged total citations, coupled with a reduction in the number of articles. The slight increase in the average number of authors implies that collaboration may contribute to an enhancement in the quality of the articles.

Table 1.

Citation Metrics of Documents as Per POP.

Total article metrics	Value	Cited article metrics	Value
Papers	986	Papers	850
Citations	23,583	Citations	23,583
Years	53 (1970–2023)	Years	53 (1970–2023)
Cites_Year	444.96	Cites_Year	444.96
Cites_Paper	23.92	Cites_Paper	27.74
Authors_Paper	3.91	Authors_Paper	3.93
h_index	69	h_index	69
g_index	125	g_index	125

As for the research domains, Table 2 illustrates the top 10 research fields within these studies. Those comprising over 10% include Geriatrics Gerontology (215, 21.8%) and Business Economics (148, 15.0%). The top ranking of Geriatrics Gerontology is understandable, as the most direct impact of aging on individuals pertains to age-related diseases, making it challenging to exclude such studies through keyword searches. The second position occupied by Business Economics is also anticipated since the primary focus of this study is the non-medical societal impacts of aging, falling within the domain of business economics. Several other fields that have entered the top 10 also potentially address the societal impacts of aging, including Public Environmental Occupational Health, Psychology, Demography, Social Work, Health Care Sciences Services, and Science Technology Other Topics. This underscores the effectiveness of the search strategy.

Table 2.

Top 10 Research Domains (n = 986).

Research domains	N	%
Geriatrics Gerontology	215	21.8
Business Economics	148	15.0
Public Environmental Occupational Health	86	8.7
Environmental Sciences Ecology	74	7.5
Psychology	61	6.2
Neurosciences Neurology	53	5.4
Demography	42	4.3
Social Work	40	4.1
Health Care Sciences Services	39	4.0
Science Technology Other Topics	39	4.0

For the publications per year (Table 3 and Figure 2), an exponential growth trend is evident. Initially, before the year 2000, the growth was quite gradual, with an annual publication generally below 10. From 2001 to 2013, there was a fluctuating increase, with the annual publication gradually exceeding 10 and 20. Subsequently, post-2013 marked a phase of rapid growth, with the annual publication consistently surpassing 40, 60, and reaching a peak of 96 in 2021. This trend can be explained by global aging data. According to UN data (2023), around 2001, the proportion of the world’s population aged 65 and above exceeded 7%, surpassing the threshold for an aging society. This prompted a swift increase in global scholarly attention, which previously may have been limited to scholars in individual aging countries. Around 2013, there has been a substantial acceleration in the growth rate of this proportion (United Nations [UN], 2023). This is attributed to the fact that major countries worldwide have collectively confronted significant aging challenges, resulting in a marked surge in the publication volume on this topic. The peak in 2021 might be influenced by the heightened focus on elderly individuals and health issues due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the time lag in the publication of articles, it explains the current trend.

Table 3.

Publications Per Year (n = 986).

Publication years	N	%
1970	2	0.2
1973	1	0.1
1974	1	0.1
1975	1	0.1
1976	4	0.4
1977	2	0.2
1978	3	0.3
1979	1	0.1
1980	1	0.1
1981	1	0.1
1982	5	0.5
1983	4	0.4
1984	3	0.3
1986	6	0.6
1987	3	0.3
1988	5	0.5
1989	8	0.8
1990	7	0.7
1991	3	0.3
1992	4	0.4
1993	6	0.6
1994	7	0.7
1995	6	0.6
1996	6	0.6
1997	11	1.1
1998	11	1.1
1999	5	0.5
2000	6	0.6
2001	10	1.0
2002	11	1.1
2003	11	1.1
2004	9	0.9
2005	12	1.2
2006	16	1.6
2007	23	2.3
2008	25	2.5
2009	27	2.7
2010	23	2.3
2011	26	2.6
2012	26	2.6
2013	35	3.5
2014	41	4.2
2015	35	3.5
2016	41	4.2
2017	54	5.5
2018	47	4.8
2019	65	6.6
2020	75	7.6
2021	96	9.7
2022	71	7.2
2023	84	8.5

Figure 2.

Publication trends on the societal impact of aging.

Influential Authors

Table 4 presents the top 20 authors ranked by publication and citation counts. Among them, Park EC, Lee Y, and Vance DE secure the top three positions with 7, 6, and 6 publications, respectively. In terms of citation counts, Andrieu S, representing 16 authors, holds the first position with 1,288 citations each. Following closely are Newman AB (905), Avolio A (803), Chen S (803), and Li M (803). Simultaneously considering publication and citation counts, Newman AB stands out as the sole author within the top 20 rankings in both categories, with five documents and 1,288 citations. These descriptive metrics reflect the prominence of these authors in the field.

Table 4.

Top 20 Authors as Per Documents and Citations.

Author by documents	Documents	Author by citations	Citations
Park EC	7	Andrieu S	1,288
Lee Y	6	Bauer J	1,288
Vance DE	6	Beauchet O	1,288
Choi Y	5	Bonnefoy M	1,288
Kim JH	5	Cesari M	1,288
Newman AB	5	Donini LM	1,288
Chen Y	4	Gillette-Guyonnet S	1,288
Deeg DJH	4	Inzitari M	1,288
Shin K	4	Nourhashemi F	1,288
Wang Q	4	Onder G	1,288
Yang T	4	Ritz P	1,288
Amieva H	3	Rolland Y	1,288
Ando F	3	Salva A	1,288
Chen SY	3	Van Kan GA	1,288
Dartigues JF	3	Vellas B	1,288
Daviglus ML	3	Visser M	1,288
Denton FT	3	Newman AB	905
Diop M	3	Avolio A	803
Etzioni DA	3	Chen S	803
Fried LP	3	Li M	803

To further identify influential authors, this study employed co-authorship analysis. Figure 3 illustrates the co-authorship network among authors, segmented into four clusters based on co-authored articles. These clusters include the yellow cluster represented by Forman et al. (2017), the green cluster represented by Friedmann et al. (2020), the blue cluster represented by Wright et al. (2009), and the red cluster represented by Houston et al. (2008). It is evident that Newman AB, Simonsick EM, and Boudreau R serve as core authors within the co-authorship network, collaborating with all four clusters. Moreover, the yellow and blue clusters are relatively close to the core, with authors from these clusters having collaborative connections with all four clusters through the aforementioned three core authors. Additionally, the authors within each cluster have comparable citations, suggesting the likelihood of maintaining stable collaborative relationships.

Figure 3.

Influential authors in co-authorship network.

Influential Countries

Regarding the distribution of authors’ nationalities, Table 5 presents the top 10 countries ranked by publication and citation counts. Additionally, Figure 4 illustrates the co-authorship network among countries based on co-authorship analysis. It is observed that the USA tops both the publication and citation counts with 302 publications and 10,626 citations. Mainland China (131) and England (83) secure the second and third positions in publication counts, while the second and third positions in citation counts are held by the Netherlands (3,423) and England (2,742). Upon cross-referencing the two rankings, the USA, Mainland China, England, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands all consistently appear in the top 10. This underscores the high impact of these countries in the field of the societal impact of aging. Notably, the Netherlands, ranked 10th in publication counts (38), ascends to the second position in citation counts (3,423), with an average of 90.08 citations per article, reflecting the high quality and impact of its research. Similarly, Mainland China ranks second in publication counts (131) but fourth in citation counts (2,569), with an average of 19.61 citations per article, indicating that despite substantial attention from Chinese scholars on the topic, the impact of their research is yet to be fully realized. Figure 4 further supports the results from Table 5, as prominently featured nodes in the network correspond to countries consistently ranked high in both publication and citation counts, reaffirming their influential status on a global scale.

Table 5.

Top 10 Countries as Per Documents and Citations.

Country by documents	Documents	Country by citations	Citations
USA	302	USA	10,626
MAINLAND CHINA	131	NETHERLANDS	3,423
ENGLAND	83	ENGLAND	2,742
AUSTRALIA	75	MAINLAND CHINA	2,569
CANADA	58	GERMANY	2,281
JAPAN	58	FRANCE	2,268
GERMANY	45	AUSTRALIA	2,082
SOUTH KOREA	43	ITALY	1895
ITALY	41	SPAIN	1,523
NETHERLANDS	38	CANADA	987

Figure 4.

Influential countries in co-authorship network.

The heightened emphasis on the topic of the societal impact of aging by authors from these countries can be attributed to the elevated levels of aging within their respective populations. Based on the UN classification criteria for aging societies (Cox, 1956), as of 2022, the percentage of the population aged 65 and above in the United States is 17%, Mainland China is at 14%, England at 19%, Australia at 17%, Canada at 19%, Germany at 22%, Italy at 24%, and the Netherlands at 20% (United Nations [UN], 2023). All of these percentages meet the criteria for being classified as deep aging societies, with Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands even reaching the status of super-aging societies.

Influential Journals

Similarly, Table 6 lists the top 10 journals based on publications and citations. PLOS ONE and SUSTAINABILITY (14 each) share the first position for the number of publications, followed closely by the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH (13). BMC GERIATRICS, JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK, and JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (12 each) occupy the third position. In terms of citations, the top three journals are JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY (380), JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (349), and LANCET (348). Notably, PLOS ONE, JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, and SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE consistently rank in the top 10 for both publications and citations, reflecting their significant impact on research concerning the societal impact of aging.

Table 6.

Top 10 Journals as Per Documents and Citations.

Journal by documents	Documents	Journal by citations	Citations
PLOS ONE	14	JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY	380
SUSTAINABILITY	14	JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES	349
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH	13	LANCET	348
BMC GERIATRICS	12	GERONTOLOGIST	336
JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK	12	SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE	327
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES	12	JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES	260
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE	9	PLOS ONE	245
ARCHIVES OF GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRICS	7	NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE	221
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT	7	PSYCHOLOGY AND AGING	218
BMC PUBLIC HEALTH	6	JAMA JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION	206

This study also conducted a source-based co-citation analysis to identify the knowledge structure and thematic categories (Donthu et al., 2021). Given the high citation counts of journals in such studies, a threshold of 100 citations per journal was set. Out of 14,824 journals, 29 met this criteria, as illustrated in Figure 5. These 29 journals are categorized into four thematic clusters. The blue cluster, comprising seven journals, includes JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, GERONTOLOGIST, and PSYCHOLOGY AND AGING, representing the intersection of social sciences and psychology. The red cluster, comprising eight journals, includes JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, LANCET, and JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES, representing the biomedical field. The green cluster, also comprising eight journals, includes PLOS ONE, AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, and HEALTH AFFAIRS, covering broader social science fields such as economics, population studies, and public health policy. The yellow cluster, comprising six journals, includes SOCIAL SCIENCE MEDICINE, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, and JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY, representing the intersection of social sciences and medicine.

Figure 5.

Influential journals in co-citation network.

In terms of distribution, the yellow cluster is situated at the core of the network, bridging multiple disciplines, with the blue cluster above, emphasizing psychology, the red cluster below, leaning toward medicine, and the green cluster to the right, emphasizing social sciences. Furthermore, the three high-impact journals identified in Table 6—PLOS ONE, JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, and SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE—belong to the green, blue, and yellow clusters, respectively. This underscores the focus of this study on exploring the societal impact of aging from a non-medical perspective.

Influential Articles

The analysis of article performance can be conducted through indicators such as total citations and average annual citations, facilitating the identification of influential articles in the current field (Donthu et al., 2021). Tables 7 and 8 present the results of the performance analysis. Based on the total citation ranking, Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009) secured the top position with 1288 citations, followed by Avolio et al. (1983; 803) and Houston et al. (2008; 802). As total citations require time to accumulate, articles published later may be at a disadvantage in such rankings. Hence, the average annual citation metric serves as a valuable tool for assessing the potential impact of an article, mitigating the bias introduced by the temporal factor (Donthu et al., 2021). Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009), Wang et al. (2023), and Houston et al. (2008) ranked first, second, and third, with annual average citation counts of 92, 56, and 53.47, respectively. Comparing the two rankings, it is apparent that Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009) hold the top position in both, underscoring its absolute influence in the field of the societal impact of aging. Houston et al. (2008) simultaneously rank third in both lists, and Bloom et al. (2015) appear in the top 10 of both rankings, indicating these articles’ high impact in the field. Moreover, to visualize the results of the performance analysis, this study conducted a citation analysis. The citation network in Figure 6 corroborates the findings presented in Tables 7 and 8. Most of the top-ten articles in the tables are associated with prominent nodes in Figure 6, such as Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009), Etzioni et al. (2003), and Bloom et al. (2015).

Table 7.

Article	Title	Journal	N
Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009)	GAIT SPEED AT USUAL PACE AS A PREDICTOR OF ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER PEOPLE AN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY ON NUTRITION AND AGING (IANA) TASK FORCE	JOURNAL OF NUTRITION HEALTH & AGING	1,288
Avolio et al. (1983)	EFFECTS OF AGING ON CHANGING ARTERIAL COMPLIANCE AND LEFT-VENTRICULAR LOAD IN A NORTHERN CHINESE URBAN-COMMUNITY	CIRCULATION	803
Houston et al. (2008)	Dietary protein intake is associated with lean mass change in older, community-dwelling adults: the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study	AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION	802
Etzioni et al. (2003)	The aging population and its impact on the surgery workforce	ANNALS OF SURGERY	583
Rockwood et al. (2004)	Prevalence, attributes, and outcomes of fitness and frailty in community-dwelling older adults:: Report from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging	JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES	393
Bloom et al. (2015)	Macroeconomic implications of population aging and selected policy responses	LANCET	339
Bloom et al. (2010)	Implications of population aging for economic growth	OXFORD REVIEW OF ECONOMIC POLICY	315
Gougeon et al. (1994)	AGE-RELATED-CHANGES OF THE POPULATION OF HUMAN OVARIAN FOLLICLES - INCREASE IN THE DISAPPEARANCE RATE OF NONGROWING AND EARLY-GROWING FOLLICLES IN AGING WOMEN	BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION	311
Penninx et al. (1997)	Effects of social support and personal coping resources on mortality in older age: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam	AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY	309
Guralnik et al. (1996)	Disability as a public health outcome in the aging population	ANNUAL REVIEW OF PUBLIC HEALTH	297

Article	Title	Journal	N
Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009)	GAIT SPEED AT USUAL PACE AS A PREDICTOR OF ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER PEOPLE AN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY ON NUTRITION AND AGING (IANA) TASK FORCE	JOURNAL OF NUTRITION HEALTH & AGING	92
Wang et al. (2023)	Uncovering the impact of income inequality and population aging on carbon emission efficiency: An empirical analysis of 139 countries	SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT	56
Houston et al. (2008)	Dietary protein intake is associated with lean mass change in older, community-dwelling adults: the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study	AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION	53.47
Wang and Wang (2021)	The nonlinear effects of population aging, industrial structure, and urbanization on carbon emissions: A panel threshold regression analysis of 137 countries	JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION	51.5
Wang and Li (2021)	The effects of population aging, life expectancy, unemployment rate, population density, per capita GDP, urbanization on per capita carbon emissions	SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION	43.5
Acosta and Singer (2020)	Pathogenesis of COVID-19-induced ARDS: implications for an aging population	EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY JOURNAL	43.33
Bloom et al. (2015)	Macroeconomic implications of population aging and selected policy responses	LANCET	42.38
Simons et al. (2021)	The effects of social adversity, discrimination, and health risk behaviors on the accelerated aging of African Americans: Further support for the weathering hypothesis	SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE	38.5
Yang et al. (2021)	Study on the long-term impact of economic globalization and population aging on CO₂ emissions in OECD countries	SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT	35.5
Bone et al. (2018)	What is the impact of population aging on the future provision of end-of-life care? Population-based projections of place of death	PALLIATIVE MEDICINE	30.8

Keywords and Trend Analysis

This study also conducted a co-word analysis to identify hot keywords and their thematic clusters in the current field. The analysis was configured with a minimum keyword occurrence threshold of 10 times to mitigate the interference of low-frequency keywords. Ultimately, out of 4,239 keywords, 110 were included in the network (Figure 8). Table 9 presents the top 10 keywords in each cluster, ranked by frequency of occurrences. Among the identified keywords, “aging,”“population aging,” and “impact” are expected to be highly prevalent due to their inclusion in the search strategy. Other notable keywords with high frequencies include terms related to economic and social aspects, such as “economic growth,”“social support,” and “community.” This reflects the broad scope of research themes associated with aging, which spans beyond just health and disease to encompass economic implications and social interactions.

Figure 8.

Keywords co-occurrence network.

Table 9.

Top 10 Keywords in Each Cluster as Per Frequency.

Keywords	Cluster	Occurrences	Keywords	Cluster	Occurrences
Age	Red	130	Social support	Blue	28
Population aging	Red	83	Gender	Blue	25
Aging	Red	47	Stress	Blue	22
Impact	Red	47	Loneliness	Blue	21
Population aging	Red	45	Community	Blue	19
Growth	Red	32	Aging	Yellow	121
United-states	Red	28	Dementia	Yellow	41
China	Red	23	Disease	Yellow	37
Determinants	Red	23	Decline	Yellow	26
Economic growth	Red	23	Memory	Yellow	25
Older-adults	Green	72	Cognition	Yellow	23
Prevalence	Green	54	Impairment	Yellow	21
Disability	Green	39	Performance	Yellow	21
Care	Green	38	Alzheimers-disease	Yellow	19
Risk-factors	Green	33	Metaanalysis	Yellow	13
People	Green	31	Mortality	Purple	77
Epidemiology	Green	29	Risk	Purple	58
Elderly	Green	25	Adults	Purple	50
Quality-of-life	Green	25	Association	Purple	38
Population	Green	23	Physical-activity	Purple	31
Health	Blue	116	Women	Purple	18
Depression	Blue	35	Obesity	Purple	16
Support	Blue	35	Predictors	Purple	16
Older adults	Blue	32	Cardiovascular-disease	Purple	11
Life	Blue	29	Follow-up	Purple	11

From the perspective of thematic clusters, these high-frequency keywords have been categorized into five classes. As depicted in Figure 8 and Table 9, the green cluster pertains to themes associated with the elderly population and disease, the yellow cluster is related to cognitive and memory themes, the purple cluster is linked to health risks in adults, and the blue cluster encompasses themes related to the mental health and social support of older adults. Significantly, the red cluster is associated with the societal impacts of aging in a narrow sense, which includes keywords such as economic growth, demographic change, carbon emissions, consumption, life expectancy, retirement, labor force, and education, among others. The red cluster, comprising 36 keywords, represents the highest proportion among the five classifications, highlighting its significance as a prominent direction for in-depth research into the current societal impacts of aging. Notably, the red cluster also includes keywords for two countries, China (23) and the United States (28), indicating that they lead in this domain, consistent with the findings from the previous analysis of influential countries.

Building upon Figure 8, the incorporation of a temporal dimension in Figure 9 facilitates the identification of evolving trends in the development of prominent themes within the field. The colors in Figure 9 are assigned based on the temporal prevalence of keywords, with darker colors representing earlier occurrences and lighter colors indicating more recent trends. Significantly, the keywords that emerged as prominent post-2020 (illustrated as yellow nodes) include carbon emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, public health, loneliness, consumption, healthy aging, income, China, and various countries. Conversely, the keywords prevalent around 2012 (depicted as darker nodes) encompass the United States, disabilities, follow-up depression, epidemiology, cognitive impairment, among others. Comparative analysis elucidates a noticeable transition in research trends, moving from predominantly medical-related themes to a broader spectrum of disciplines after 2020. Moreover, there is a transition of research focus from the United States to other countries, notably represented by China. This shift may be attributed to an increased awareness of the multifaceted impacts of aging, prompting a progression from an initial emphasis on medical domains to broader investigations across the social sciences.

Figure 9.

Keywords co-occurrence overlay visualization.

Conclusions and Future Research

This study conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 986 documents on the societal impact of aging, sourced from the WOS database, following the four-step methodology by Donthu et al. (2021). The descriptive analysis revealed a predominant focus on Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Business Economics, along with a steady rise in publication activity. Performance analysis and science mapping identified key contributors, including authors such as Newman AB, Simonsick EM, and Boudreau R, leading countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, and influential journals such as PLOS ONE, JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B, and SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE. Notable articles, including those by Abellan Van Kan et al. (2009), Bloom et al. (2015), and Wang et al. (2023), were also highlighted for their impact. The thematic analysis underscored the growing interest in non-medical perspectives on aging, spanning labor markets, sustainable development, health economics, medical costs, mental health, and social environments. Keyword and trend analyses further indicated a shift from medical-focused research in the U.S. to broader social science investigations, particularly in China.

Based on the keyword and trend analysis, future research should further investigate the intersection of aging with economic and social effects at both international and regional levels. The prominence of themes related to economic growth, carbon emissions, and social impacts of aging, particularly in the red cluster, underscores the need for cross-disciplinary investigations that integrate perspectives from economics, sociology, and environmental sciences. For instance, future studies could explore how aging influences labor productivity, consumer spending, and public infrastructure demands, particularly in rapidly aging economies. Research could also examine the feedback loop between aging populations and environmental sustainability, focusing on the implications for resource consumption, energy demands, and carbon emissions.

Moreover, recent trends indicate a shift from medical-focused research to broader societal concerns post-2020, highlighting the importance of addressing regional disparities in aging-related challenges. Comparative studies should be conducted to assess how different countries, such as the United States, China, and European nations, implement policy responses to aging. This could include analyzing the effectiveness of retirement policies, caregiver support systems, and age-friendly urban planning initiatives. Additionally, as emerging economies face distinct demographic transitions, research should investigate adaptive strategies that balance economic growth with aging-related welfare demands. By pursuing these research avenues, future studies can provide a more holistic understanding of aging’s multifaceted impacts and contribute to the design of evidence-based, context-specific policies and interventions that address both global trends and localized needs.

This study acknowledges certain limitations. Despite efforts to filter articles from a non-medical perspective, the strong association between aging research and medicine resulted in the inclusion of medical-related studies. Future research could address this by employing systematic reviews with rigorous manual screening to ensure a non-medical focus. Additionally, as this study relied on a single database with language restrictions, expanding the data sources and removing language limitations could enhance the diversity and comprehensiveness of the literature. Given the thematic shifts observed since 2012, future studies could also narrow their focus to the most recent 10 years to better capture emerging research trends and identify knowledge gaps.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their heartfelt thanks to the editor and anonymous peer reviewers for their discerning and constructive critiques. These contributions have been essential in the refinement and fortification of this manuscript’s content.

ORCID iDs

Zhangwei Zheng

Hafizuddin-Syah B. A. M.

Hafizah Omar Zaki

Qin Lingda Tan

Ethical Considerations

This research did not collect empirical data so ethical approval was not required.

Author Contributions

Each author has made substantial contributions to the research: this includes conceptualization and methodology design, development of the search strategy, data curation, results presentation (visualization), and discussion. The drafting of the original manuscript was primarily undertaken by Zhangwei Zheng and Qin Lingda Tan, while Hafizuddin-Syah B.A.M. and Hafizah Omar Zaki provided critical review and editing. All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this review article since there was no generation or analysis of new data in the study.

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Aging and Its Societal Impact: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Methods

Research Design

Bibliometric Techniques

Search Strategy and Data Collection

Results and Discussion

Holistic Features and Publication Trends

Influential Authors

Influential Countries

Influential Journals

Influential Articles

Keywords and Trend Analysis

Conclusions and Future Research

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

ORCID iDs

Ethical Considerations

Author Contributions

Funding

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Data Availability Statement

References