USA Aging Population

Ed Panek

QA RA Small Med Dev Company
Leader
Super Moderator
Recently watched this video Peter Zeihan || Deglobalization: There's No Stopping It Now - YouTube
The author makes some good points but I was mostly taken aback by this point about the age demographic in the USA and this pattern is similar around the globe in most developed countries.

USA Aging Population

USA Aging Population

Younger populations provide support for older ones by both working and creating new consumers. Old people stop working and for the most part stop consuming as much as they did decades prior.

Not sure how we get out of this one...
 
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Michael_M

Trusted Information Resource
I don't think we get out of this. I believe it took decades of social engineering to reach this stage and I don't see anyone trying to set a new social engineering score. I remember in school (late 70s-through 80s) being taught that the earth is over populated. People today are still being told how we are ruining the plant and we will not survive the next 20 years. Yes, someone has always been screaming the end of the world since the world began but some people have a louder voice with the internet.
 

Bev D

Heretical Statistician
Leader
Super Moderator
No data have meaning without context. What do those bar charts actually say? there are only 3 time snapshots shown. what does the data look in the larger context? and what effect are we talking about? Is there real data to back that up? Is it causal or coincidental?

People are living longer, except for catastrophic events like pandemics and wars. And isn't that what we've wanted? To live longer healthier lives?

As for Randy's comment that is something each generation has said about the 'grandchild' generation. And the Parent generation has always said they want a better, easier life for their children than they had. But then they get to be grandparents and see that their wish has come true and they can't wait to complain about how lazy the next generation is. I really don't see the proportion of lazy young people as being any larger or smaller than in the previous generations that I have lived through..
 

Ed Panek

QA RA Small Med Dev Company
Leader
Super Moderator
The charts are just raw data showing the breakdown of ages brackets. For more information watch the video I referenced. The inference is we have fewer younger people to support an aging population, regardless of lifespan.

If you watch the relatively short video he goes into detail about how these have changed over time and why they are important to think about. 200 years ago children were free labor. In modern society, children are a costly habit.

I was curious of opinions on this as I believe this is the first time in human history these distributions of age have persisted long. Draw your own conclusions :)
 
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Clueless One

Climbing coporate ladders...by doing nothing.
As a much younger generation (I'm in 20'), I can certainly say that fear of managing housing and living has dramatically decreased of marriage. Once someone marry, they're bound to have babies tho.
 
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