Are you ready for the Super Age?
Bradley Schurman‘s recently launched book, The Super Age, draws on his experience with AARP and consulting with large corporates waking up to societal-wide implications of the demographic shift we’re living through. It’s an important book because it helps to reframe the conversation away from the negative associations of sickness, negativity and “old people are a burden”, to one in which nearly every aspect of society will be fundamentally different in our upcoming “demographic destiny”.
It doesn’t feel defensive, attempting to point older people in a universally positive light, airbrushing reality with tan linens and walks on the beach. And nor does it have the shrill tone of articles that tend to use the word tsunami a lot, whose urgent rhetoric contrasts with the slow rolling reality of demographics, and risks desensitizing the audience.
The book is well researched and covers a broad range of data points and topics, including:
- More than 80 percent of global GDP is generated by countries with
rapidly aging populations. - Ageism in the US costs the economy an expected $63bn per year
- 20m older Americans are expected to be living in poverty by 2030
- In 1900 there were just 100k people over 80. Today there are 6m and by 2050 there will be 20m.
- $68tn in wealth is going to be moving between generations in the next couple of decades
It’s also laced with colorful anecdotes that in some cases bring the near future to life, such as how the small village of Nagoro in Japan (popn.: 25, youngest resident: 60) is known as the ‘Valley of the Dolls’ due to the placement of lifelike dolls of children and adults in abandoned buildings.
The global approach appeals to me, as this sense of learning lessons from around the world has been one of the main drivers behind Aging2.0. In fact, Schurman ends the book with a reference to one of his last projects at AARP, creating the Aging Readiness and Competitiveness Report, which looked at 22 countries to glean insights around policy, infrastructure, technology and health, among others. Its ultimate message is an upbeat call for collaboration and collective purpose, something that with my Collective hat on, I couldn’t agree on more.
I’ll be interviewing the author for the APAC book launch next Tuesday Jan 18 at 12pm Melbourne time. More info and register here.
