August 2025

The Path to 2075 — The Positive Story of Global Aging (Daly/Njie/Allen)

By Jan Hatzius, Joseph Briggs, Kevin Daly, Johan Allen, Sarah Dong & Megan Peters The global population is aging, driven by a combination of increased longevity and declining fertility. This phenomenon is most pronounced in developed (DM) economies, where the ‘working-age ratio’ (ages 15-64) has already decreased from 67% in 2000 to 63%, and is projected to fall to 57% by 2075. In emerging economies, the 15-64 share is close to a peak (66%) and is expected to decline to...

July 2025

Retirement Then, Now, and Next

By Teresa Ghilarducci & The SCEPA Team  Late Baby Boomers (age 59-67), Generation X (age 43-58) and Millennials (age 27-42) are retiring under much worse conditions than Early Baby Boomers (between age 68-76 in 2022). This fact gets obscured by research that paints an optimistic picture of retirement security that only really existed for Early Baby Boomers. Later generations have been impacted by changes to the conditions of retirement that Early Baby Boomers did not experience. This includes: the shift...

Russia launches controversial scheme to boost birth rate, offers money to schoolgirls for having children

Amid a sharp decline in birth rates, Russia has launched a controversial new initiative that offers financial incentives to school and college-going girls to become pregnant and raise children. The program, currently being piloted in select regions, provides over 100,000 rubles (approximately Rs 90,000) to adult schoolgirls who agree to give birth and care for a child. The scheme is part of a broader demographic strategy adopted in March 2025 aimed at reversing Russia’s population decline. It is being implemented...

June 2025

The At Retirement Reckoning: Barnett Waddingham’s investigation into the UK’s retirement landscape

By Barnett Waddingham The British pensions industry is, once again, at a critical juncture. It seems every provider, regulator, and adviser is watching with bated breath as the time bomb of UK retirement saving ticks closer to detonation. And with every new day, the likely ripple effects of the impending disaster get bigger. The past 14 years of Conservative rule saw the pension landscape shift notably. The introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 successfully widened the UK’s saving base and helped tackle...

Iridescent Life Course: LGBTQ Aging Research and Blueprint for the Future – A Systematic Review

By Karen I. Fredriksen Goldsen, Sarah Jen & Anna Muraco  LGBTQ* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer) older adults are demographically diverse and growing populations. In an earlier 25-year review of the literature on sexual orientation and aging, we identified four waves of research that addressed dispelling negative stereotypes, psychosocial adjustment to aging, identity development, and social and community-based support in the lives of LGBTQ older adults.  The current review was designed to develop an evidence base for the field...

LGBT Older Adults: Chosen Family and Caregiving

By Nancy J. Knauer In the United States, informal eldercare is principally the responsibility of younger relatives. Adult children perform the majority of eldercare and nonrelatives perform only fourteen percent of care. Caregiving in the LGBT community follows a very different pattern that reflects the importance of “chosen family” in the lives of LGBT older adults. Instead of relying on relatives, LGBT older adults largely care for each other. Relatives provide only eleven percent of all eldercare. This article explores the...

May 2025

China steps up support for social participation of seniors amid population aging

From promoting volunteer service and expanding lifelong learning opportunities to developing senior-friendly tourism offerings, China is taking proactive steps to enhance social engagement among the elderly and support their pursuit of active, meaningful lives. These measures, laid out in a guideline released recently by 19 government departments, came as the country grapples with a rapidly aging population. Home to the world's largest elderly demographic, China had over 310 million people aged 60 and above by the end of 2024, accounting for...

April 2025

The New Baby Boom: How the White House is looking to jumpstart the nation’s birth rate

The Trump administration is reportedly fielding ideas for how to increase the declining U.S. birth rate, a longtime priority of White House figures like Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk. Since 1990 the U.S. total fertility rate has declined from 2.1 births per woman – enough to fully replace the current population – to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, below the replacement level, according to a March report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, part of a larger decline in birth rates in wealthy peer countries. Experts point...

State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge

By The World Bank   Today, more people have access to social protection now than at any point in history. Over the last decade, 4.7 billion people across low- and middle-income countries gained access to social protection. However, critical gaps remain. Two billion people in those countries remain uncovered or inadequately covered by social protection. The State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge documents advances and challenges to strengthening social protection and labor systems across low- and middle-income countries and...

February 2025

How should policy-makers think about longevity?

As people live longer, public policy and public spending should pivot towards ensuring longer, healthier and more active lives. This includes a shift towards preventative healthcare and lifelong education. Economists have been warning of ageing societies for decades. Globally, falling birth rates and rising life expectancy are leading to an increasing proportion of older people. In the UK in 1950, one in nine of the population was over 65 years old; today, it is around one in five. That share...