The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that the cost of aging is a more serious global problem than was anticipated.

The IMF says governments and pension funds around the world are ill prepared for their growing elderly populations. It predicted in the latest world economic outlook report that people are expected to live three years longer than now on average by 2050 and the cost of supporting the elderly will increase by 50 percent at that time.

The report said the cost of caring for the elderly has already begun to strain the budgets of governments around the world. It explained that in advanced nations the number of elderly people will match that of the working population by 2050.