The Granny Boom – Archive Article.
December 16, 2008

RADIO 2GB NEWS COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY JUNE 4 1999 ON RADIO 2GB’S “BRIAN WILSHIRE PROGRAMME” AT 9 PM, AND ON JUNE 6 1999 ON “SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE” AT 10.30 PM

There is now a “granny boom” around the world. People are living longer than ever before. Two thirds of all those people in history who have ever reached the age of 65, are still alive today.

The UNESCO Courier, the magazine of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has recently carried a series of articles dealing with 1999: the International Year of Older Persons. This international year has been arranged to help governments and people come to terms with the new era of older people.

Over the past century, a silent and unprecedented revolution in longevity has occurred: people living in the industrialized world have on average gained 25 years of life. This has been due largely to the reduction of deaths at childbirth and infancy and the control of diseases associated with old age. This is nearly equal to all the progress made in life expectancy over the preceding 5,000 years. In many countries, the 85-plus age group is the most rapidly growing.

The next century may bring even more dramatic increases in life expectancy. The “natural life span” that most people could expect may become as high as 110 or 120 years.

However, not enough attention is being given to the implications of this new era. There has been a tendency among some commentators (including myself) to focus on the problems of financing an aging society.

An alternative point of view is to argue that older people are often in a good financial position. American pension funds amount to US$2.7 trillion – which is a quarter of all US’s capital formation. This money helps provide capital for investment in production and services. Older Americans therefore have a great deal of financial clout.

This is also seen in the development of what are being called the “silver industries”: industries that cater for older people in such matters as housing, travel and recreation. Pharmaceutical industries have also recognized older people as a valuable market and so more and more research is being done for their benefit.

Older people will also have a great deal of political clout. In the US, for example, aging Baby Boomers in the year 2020 will constitute 20 per cent of the population. Voting in the US is not compulsory and so many Americans, especially poorer ones, do not bother to vote. This means that the politically astute Baby Boomers, at 20 per cent of the population, may actually represent 30 per cent of the electorate. Political candidates will work very hard to get their votes.

Finally, there is the “feel-good” factor. First, older people now see themselves as vibrant and energetic and so are not willing to let life end at retirement. Second, because gerontologists now have a better understanding of the underlying mechanism of aging itself and hold out the promise of delaying the aging process, so older people now have higher expectations from life. They will get more from life because they will expect more. Being “silver” will be as good as gold.

This is going to be a great time to be an older person.