Grey time ahead for California dreamers
The Golden State faces a demographic crisis as the baby-boomers struggle with age and poverty
10/06/2006
By Catherine Philp
IT IS a land synonymous with all things youthful, from golden beach babes to twentysomething dot-com millionaires and aspiring young starlets.
But California’s image is set to be turned upside down in the coming decade as retiring baby-boomers turn it from the Golden State to the greyest. New predictions have California’s senior population set to double by 2020, challenging Florida for the greatest proportion of elders in the country.
But this is not a generation happy to shuffle off into old age clutching their meagre social security cheques: these are the so-called “me generation” whose retirement has been nicknamed “Boomergeddon.”
They may have been the wealthiest and best-educated generation in history, says Mike Males, the California sociologist who coined the term, but the image of them mellowing into old age with a fat pension fund is way out of date.
“This is a generation that hasn’t cared much about the future,” Mr Males, a baby-boomer himself, said. “We can’t even conceive of growing old.”
While they may have been the wealthiest generation, they have also spent the most, enjoying lifestyles their parents could only dream of. Few have saved adequately for a retirement, that may last as long as their working lives.
Yet only a third say they expect to scale back their spending. And while past generations may have had their own health problems, baby boomers are bringing a new set into their senior years, refusing to let go of their old sex, drugs and rock’n’roll ways.
Already 1.7 million Americans over 50 are addicted to drugs. By 2020 that will rise to 4.4 million. Boomers are also the biggest demographic for HIV in the United States.
Even those who have been dutifully eating their granola and practising their yoga will be an equal burden on society.
“Living longer will bring more chronic illnesses,” says Patty Berg, the chair of the Californian assembly’s committee on ageing, which faces the task of preparing for the onslaught of retiring baby-boomers.
Half of those who live past 85 can expect to develop dementia.
“The challenges are going to be enormous. No state has seen a demographic shift like this. It has never happened before.”
How California handles this growing problem could prove to be a model for the whole country.
AGE OF PLENTY
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