Name: The World Ahead 2023: five stories to watch out for
Uploaded: 2023-01-10T17:08:40.000Z
Duration: 20 min
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

2023: a year that many are facing with trepidation

And whilst much of the world will be tightening its belt…

…there are plenty of ways in which 2023 is set to challenge assumptions…

…from antique treasures and old-fashioned solutions, to psychedelic revelations…

…and the fate of the world’s biggest population

Here are five stories that may just transform the world ahead

In 2023 the most populous country on the planet will no longer be China...

China’s population is peaking, while India’s has continued to grow

And the UN predicts that on April 14th 2023...

...India’s population will overtake that of China’s

That is hugely significant in symbolic terms...

...but what’s more important is the composition of the Indian population...

...specifically the size of its working-age population

India has more people of working age than any other population group

When this happens, it can lead to what’s known as a demographic dividend...

...because of the opportunity it offers for economic growth...

...was followed by the introduction of the one-child policy in 1979

This created a big working-age population with fewer children to raise...

...providing the manpower for China’s extraordinary economic expansion

India’s demographic bulge started much later than China’s in the 2010s

It’s forecast to continue to around 2050...

...with the biggest growth in the next decade

The question is, will India be able to capitalise on this opportunity?

A bigger working-age population in theory should mean greater productivity...

...but in India, there are obstacles to its success

For a start, about 90% of jobs in India are informal...

...which means the vast majority of workers don’t have a regular salary

Informal-sector workers are quite productive

The problem is that these are very insecure jobs...

...and so when things like covid happen...

...suddenly many of these workers are out of work...

...so Indian government has been trying...

...to set up some national pension schemes, health-insurance benefits and so on

But social-security benefits are quite limited for many of these workers

What’s more, just 20% of women of working age are actually working

Part of the problem is that while girls are being educated to a higher level...

...it’s often not high enough to work in offices

So for these women in the middle of the education stream...

...there are many jobs like truck drivers, mobile-phone repairers...

A lot of these occupations are not really open to women

Part of China’s rapid economic growth...

...was due to the foreign-company factories that were set up there

The Indian government has been trying to mimic this…

…with a “Make in India” campaign to entice foreign investment

In a big boost to India’s manufacturing sector...

...Apple says that it plans to make the iPhone 14 in India

But the country’s infrastructure and the state of its workforce remain a barrier

...that has any formal training is extremely small, around 3%

There’s very high levels still of malnutrition, anaemia and other health issues

That means that a lot of people coming into the labour force...

...their cognitive and physical development may have been impaired

The challenge for the Indian government...

...is to create the economic environment to encourage...

...both domestic and foreign businesses to create jobs...

...so that it can reap the rewards of being the most populous country on the planet

2023 could be the year that party drugs get closer to being in your prescriptions...

...with three different psychedelic drugs...

...in phase three trials to treat mental-health conditions

MDMA could even be approved to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in America

2023 could potentially be a landmark year for us

This could be the first psychedelic-assisted therapy approved by a regulatory body

In any given year around 12m Americans suffer from PTSD...

...and for some, like veteran Jon Lubecky, it can last many years

He was a participant in a phase two trial run by MAPS PBC...

...which have been developing MDMA-assisted therapy since 2004

The treatment combines three doses of MDMA, followed by psychotherapy sessions

It’s not just the MDMA, it’s not just the therapy…

…it’s the two of them working together

The results of our first pivotal phase three study...

...saw that 67% of the people in the MDMA group no longer met...

If MDMA does get approved for PTSD in 2023, it will be a gain for patients...

...who really have limited options at the moment...

...for treating this very difficult and this terrible condition

Psychedelics like MDMA can make therapy much more effective

They can dampen activity in the part of the brain that processes fear...

...and release feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters like serotonin...

...which help reduce anxiety and increase empathy...

...making it easier for a patient to reflect on a traumatic experience

Psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, will also be in a phase three trial...

...of a global study for treatment-resistant depression

That also has had a successful trial so far

After having this therapy, 12 weeks later, about one in five are in remission

A third drug, normally associated with nightclubs...

...is also in this critical final stage of testing

Ketamine-assisted therapy is showing promise in helping with alcohol-use disorder

In the most recent study, 86% of patients were still abstaining from alcohol...