Philip Bump, Washington Post:
Yes, so obviously one of the reasons the United States is aging is that from 1946 to 1964 there was a huge surge in births called the baby boom.
This is a massive influx of new Americans in the same age group. Now, the size of the baby boom is changing over time. This is because immigration laws were relaxed after the baby boom itself and, of course, people die over time.
But it’s also a continuation of a pattern that began with the baby boom of the 1940s. This means that there are large clusters of people in the same age group who are reaching age milestones together. And given that the year with the most births was his year 1957, add to that his retirement age of 65, and you get 2022.
So we’re right on the cusp of the baby boomer generation retiring. The baby boomers were also a generation with a very large number of white people. Immigration was legally restricted about 100 years ago and not lifted until after the baby boom. And that resulted in a very, very white population.
And if you actually look at today’s population, you’ll see that older Americans are disproportionately white compared to younger Americans. About half of the youngest Americans are nonwhite. About half of them are black, Hispanic, or Asian. Older Americans, that’s not true.
And of course, it overlaps with a lot of the political and cultural trends that we’re seeing in this country.