So let's start by taking a look at the overall MD&D market and what we're seeing. We continue to believe this market has solid long-term growth potential due to a number of tailwinds that you see on the left-hand side of this slide. I'll highlight each briefly. First, populations in the developed world are aging rapidly. In large countries like Japan, Germany and Italy, more than 20% of the total population is already over 65 years of age. That percentage is rising rapidly in other developed nations, including the U.S., with a first of approximately 77 million baby boomers began turning 65 this year at the astonishing rate of 1 person every 8 seconds. As most of us know from personal experience, we consume more healthcare as we grow older. In fact, those over the age of 65 consume an average of 7 times more healthcare per year than those under the age of 65.
A second tailwind is the growing demand for healthcare that we're seeing in emerging markets. China, for example, has lifted more than 400 million people out of poverty in the last 20 years. As standards of living rise, people increasingly expect and are able to afford better healthcare.
A third tailwind is the fact that significant unmet medical needs remain in both the developed and the developing world. The diseases that our products help treat, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, presbyopia, obesity, affect hundreds of millions of people today with prevalence rates that are on the rise globally.
Finally, we live in a time of tremendous scientific and technological progress. I was in Asia just a few weeks ago and had the pleasure of visiting with the number of high-tech companies outside of the healthcare industry. When you think about the advances that are being made in terms of our understanding of disease, and you couple that with some of the incredible new technologies that are being developed, it's a very exciting time to be in our space.
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