THE SUPER AGE

An intelligent warning to pay more attention to your elders.

“Over the course of this decade,” writes demographic futurist Schurman, “some of the world’s largest and most developed economies, as well as some of its smallest and least advanced, will become incredibly old….In the next two years, those aged 65 and over will be equal to those under 18 in the United States. And by 2050, one in six people worldwide will be over 65, one in four in Europe and North America.” In the coming “Super Age,” people throughout the world will live longer and have fewer children, and seniors will become perhaps a third of the population, “as they nearly are in Japan today.” The author adds that we are headed for disaster if we continue to view the elderly as “a social and economic burden,” obsessively celebrate youth and “anti-aging” advice, and do nothing to ease the way for a long, productive life. Schurman combines ideas for an elderly-friendly future with a denunciation of present conditions. Although a former AARP employee, he deplores its portrait of a typical comfortable retiree. In reality, this is “reserved only for a shrinking proportion of the population…due largely to vanishing corporate pensions, shrinking state pensions, and declining private savings.” Only 16% of Americans have saved more than $200,000 for retirement, which is far too little. Ageism, widely denounced and legislated against, remains widespread, although its core tenets were never true. Older workers have always been more dependable. Even today’s epitome of entrepreneurial brilliance is not the college dropout; the average age of founders of the fastest-growing high-tech startups is 45. The fairly good news is that many nations, including the U.S., are making genuine efforts to adapt their infrastructure and government policies to an aging population—but there is still much to be done.

Good insights for right now, “the first time in…history…in which older populations will outnumber younger ones.”