We Are Modern. And Cool. And We've Never Been See Before.

By Karen and Erica

An unprecedented, unexpected species has arrived. It is us.

If you are reading this, you may be one of these superpeople. If not, you will likely become one. It is most exciting, for everyone on Earth.

Who are we? We are the first wave of women (and men) who will live for decades after retirement, with our faculties intact. We will have the huge benefit of years of experience, and we will be sentient enough to share and enjoy it.

Let’s start with an arcane but important concept—demographic dividends. Demographic dividends are social benefits that accrue to societies when their age profiles change. One—the first demographic dividend in the U.S.—occurred when we made the shift from being an agrarian society to being an industrial society, and both death and birth rates declined. The second demographic dividend occurred after the post-Second World War baby boom, when many of us were entering the workforce. Women were having fewer children, people were living longer, and the older population accumulated wealth. How did that happen? Governmental investment in public health and education, including the alleviation of poverty and a focus on better health care, was key, along with changing social mores.

What is the third demographic dividend? The rewards society will reap if we figure out how best to use the extra thirty years of healthy life that the first and second dividends accomplished.

We learned about the third demographic dividend from Linda Fried, the head of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is a soft-spoken, brilliant, scientist. She is also a revolutionary. You can read her own words here. She thinks that, for the first time ever, we will live longer and remain healthy, and therefore we will have the benefits of age without all of its previous burdens. Because of that, those of us on the front lines have an incredible opportunity to shape the future.

And it is important that we do. Not everyone is so excited about the third demographic dividend. Some commentators think all we longer-lived people will bust the budget. That longer life means that society will be burdened by overwhelming numbers of frail and sick people. Others don’t know what will happen but they seem to fear it.

Dr. Fried’s contrary vision is compelling and convincing. (Of course we like it better, but it is supported by data, too.) Healthy longevity is within our grasp. Data now show that, at every stage of life, interventions to prevent disease can extend healthy longevity. Prevention of frailty and other age-linked decline is possible, by engaging, for example, in physical activity designed to improve outcomes. We really are this remarkable new breed of human, old enough to know a thing or two, and healthy enough to use what we know.

We got here because of investment in public health and education—investment only governments can make. Now we need to devise government policies for investing in that thirty year dividend that the last investment has given us. Governments should make sure we remain as healthy as possible, because healthy longevity will generate huge rewards. 

Each of us has a role too. We can take control of our own futures by helping to design the blueprint. We can style this new third phase of our lives to suit ourselves, and our communities, to engage our skills and experience and to keep us connected with the world we love.

What an opportunity. How will you shape your piece of the third demographic dividend?