Downward Slope
After decades of rapid growth, the population of China is on the decline.
21063 Article(s) by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
No Continent for Young Men
The average African is 19 years old. The continent’s average politician is 62 and getting older — and more authoritarian.
Japan’s Platinum Plan
The dystopian film Plan 75 imagines a society in which the aged willingly commit mass euthanasia — but it can’t imagine a society without class.
Where Communists Live Forever
Longevity on the Greek island of Ikaria remains a mystery. Could communism be the key to a longer and more fulfilling life?
AI-Assisted Apartheid
Israel wants to compile biometric profiles and security ratings for every resident of the West Bank. Amazon is helping.
Canada’s Assisted Suicide Program Has Become a Nightmare
A medical assistance in dying program seemed like a step forward for choice and dignity. But it is beginning to look like a dystopian end run around the cost of providing long-term care.
The Shah-mazing Case
The drama at the heart of the strangest season of Real Housewives was … elder fraud?
The Glamour of Gerontocracy
What the famously elderly leaders of the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union meant for millions.
Old Thieves Never Die
Some of the biggest heists we could find on Wikipedia were committed by the elderly.
Christmas in July
When and where organized labor’s been on the move.
“Social Security Insolvency” Is Code for Cutting Our Benefits
Fully funding Social Security isn’t hard. We should do it.
How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?
Around the world, politicians of all persuasions have one thing in common: their cringeworthy attempts to appeal to the youths.
Marine Le Pen’s Pension Tightrope Act
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has often claimed to defend France’s welfare state from liberals. But as millions struck against Emmanuel Macron’s retirement reform, Le Pen wasn’t with the protesters.
Antiaging Regimens
Elites have long tried to dodge death. Nothing has worked so far, and plenty have died trying.
Issue 51: Misery Index
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
The Immortality Hustle
Silicon Valley’s quest to achieve eternal life is pure quackery. But it reveals much about the antidemocratic pathologies of the global superrich.
Fair-Weather Friends
Social security is once again a third rail of American politics. History tells us that might not last for long.