Revolution Aging

The U.S. population will radically grow older over the next decades. Much of this aging is due to the baby boom generation moving into the ranks of the 65 and over population. As we near 2050, we expect that the oldest age categories will grow in both: numbers and proportions.

In 15 years, the number of seniors will double (100% growth)
 

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This changing age structure of the population will radically change our society because we will see people in large numbers that have needs that our current system is not able to match. We will have more people that need (and deserve) help to engage with their communities and some assistance to live happy and healthy as they age.

We need to adapt and reorganize our communities in order to maximize happiness at all stages of life.
 

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We have an obligation to respect and support our ancestors for all they did for us. And additionally, if we want to avoid the bankruptcy of our system and cope with the associated rapid growth of expenditure for health care and social security, we urgently need to find an efficient way to organize ourselves.

What’s the challenge ?

These profound changes of our society are happening quickly(15 years), massively(100% growth), with total certainty(because babyboomers will inevitably age) and our current system cannot bear them.

We are in the wake of “Revolution Aging”

Interestingly enough, the baby-boomers reinvented the institutions in the sixties and seventies and they will reinvent the institutions for the Aging Revolution with two main goals:

  • Adapt and reorganize our communities in order to maximize happiness at all stages of life.
  • Find an efficient and fundable society model.

At this point, we don’t know what will the new model be like. The only two things we know are:

  • 90 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as they age
  • Seniors will self-organize in a system that maximizes their happiness
  • Modern technology and the Internet will be key to maximize efficiency

Revolution Aging has already started

The village movement is an innovative type of grassroots organization that has emerged in the last decade in the organizational field of support services for community-dwelling older adults (Citation Prof. A. Scharlach).

You can read some more about the village movement here, in the next blog post I will publish here next week.

www.helpfulvillage.com/the_village_movement