>Kyoungwha Kim

>With Asia’s elderly population poised to double within four decades, more money is being plowed into preserving wealth than enhancing growth, driving up demand for the region’s bonds that are beating returns on stocks.
The number of Asians 60 or older will exceed 1.25 billion, or 24 percent of the population in 2050 from 10 percent in 2011, according to data compiled by the United Nations. That helps explain the surge in pension fund assets and shows why the region’s emerging-market debt returned 63 percent in the five years through 2011. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares excluding Japan gained 17 percent in that period.

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