We’re aging & there’s more to it than just the obvious
Bottom Line:Here’s an interesting little factoid for you. For the first time in recorded history there are more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 5 worldwide. On one hand it’s a byproduct of rising life expectancy world-wide. For example, the average world-wide life expectancy is 71.5, that’s 6.5 years on the oldest end compared obviously under 5 years on the youngest end. To put that in perspective for a moment... The average life expectancy world-wide in 1950 was only 48! But that's not the only thing in play here...
The other trend is that it’s not just the United States that’s marrying later, starting family formation later and having fewer kids along the way. While female progress in the workforce has been a powerful story over the past 40+ years – with more women now being in the workforce than men for the first time ever – it's also something that’ll have generational implications on our society.
In the US we’ve seen population growth drop from greater than 1% per year to about .7% per year most recently but there’s still growth. The bigger problem will come into play down the road should this trend continue. Our economy but especially our entitlement programs are tied to the current workforce working enough and generating enough tax revenue to keep programs like Medicare and Social Security afloat. With looming insolvency in 2026 and 2034 projected respectively for each, there’s a catch to the success of the career woman should it continue on this course.