What happens when the baby boomers die?

[LargeSquareRock]

Sorry about the title, but that’s literally it. I’ve wondered this since I was a child.

Obviously we are about to enter a 20 year spike when a smaller number of tax payers support a higher number of elderly people in healthcare and elder care.

What happens in 20 years when the spike is over? Do we have empty care homes, plentiful housing and easily available health care?

I really have no evil agenda asking this- demographics has always fascinated me.

Many more people have been born. The boom has continued.

Except it hasn’t

Agreed. So what happens to these community services when the baby boomer generation dies? That is what I am asking.

Our generation (millennials) struggle because we don't yet have our inheritance but cost of living etc is hard. We may get our inheritance from the boomers when we ourselves are in late middle age/early old age. I think many of us will then try to pass on the wealth to our children and grandchildren more quickly because we understand first hand how hard it is (whereas the boomers seem to think it's because we eat avocados and they're basically looking after themselves).

@Solonga but does he have a job? 😆

Ha ha v true. It is nice to come on here and see people discussing how soon you are likely to die !

What a massive generalisation of a whole generation.

Bit like me saying all the self sufficient, tax paying old fogies like me will be replaced by a generation of work shy benefit claimants.

Ageism again 🙄

This.

So what happens to these community services when the baby boomer generation dies? That is what I am asking.

They will disappear? Younger generations will have to work for longer so they won’t have the time.

With the declining birth rate I hope, in time, that the country becomes a more pleasant place to live. I was at college in the 80s and remember doing an essay on the UK population being 52 million. It's now nearly 70 million - a huge increase in 40 years. Unfortunately the infrastructure to support that increase hasn't kept pace. Whether it's traffic, overcrowded accommodation, lack of doctors, dentists or school places, I think we just have too many people resulting in poorer living conditions. Our quality of life is impacted, queues, crowds, traffic jams, waiting lists - everything seems so much harder than 40 years ago.

My children are not fat and lazy either.
All have bought their own homes with very little help from us as well.
I really don't like all this angst among people about others from different generations. And there is so many crossovers as well. My two sisters are BBs, I fall short by one year, and my kids are 2 different generations as well.
Sure things will change as each generation dies out and subsequent ones will have to readjust based on the economics of the time, but that has been happening all through history.

They will likely pass on their homes to their descendants depending on inheritance tax rules.

And don’t forget all the younger generations who don’t pay enough tax to be net contributors….

@Harvestfestivalknickers it won’t as it will just be a more expensive place to live & we haven’t got the infrastructure to support the ageing population.

Exactly.

I'm a boomer.
I've never inherited a penny.
Both my adult dc have been given house deposits.
I assume you have shit parents which is why you're so bitter.

That's how many schools were built and local recs ... and here we are, well past their use by dates, still using these shoddy buildings.

They should be built well and built to last imo

Just to confirm, are you just sitting around waiting for your parents to die?

What's the generalisation?

OP is asking about how the world will look after tipping point- every generation before this grew and grew, and our economies are predicated upon this assumptions, but gen X represents the first population 'shrink'. She's made very clear, over and over, that that's what she's speculating about, yet this thread is 90% baby boomers with hurt feelings because to mention boomers is to insult them, apparently. It's very strange.

I wonder if the ‘boomers’ are a convenient way of disguising the real issue of underfunding of the NHS and the social care sector.

I am 61, so born at the end of the boom and will likely be working for the next 10 years and paying tax throughout my retirement. My mum is a pre boomer pays tax and lives independently at 89. She is not wealthy, she was a shop worker.

Sadly I know a lot of younger people who are dependent on the welfare state. I think using ‘boomers’ as an excuse for poor services, high house prices and an alarming push towards euthanasia is a smokescreen frankly.

Look at how the thread has descended @LargeSquareRock I told you it’s not possible to have these debates. It’s insane!

For the people at the back, I love baby boomers, I admire baby boomers, I believe baby boomers are not responsible society’s ills. I hate the “Ok boomer” slur.

I want to know what society can expect when these high value, community-minded generation dies when governments for the last generation have been gearing society around a high elderly population, low tax payer population situation. And yes, I know some baby boomers still net contribute via taxation. But that’s not the norm and unless they are Rupert Murdoch, they will not be doing this in their 80’s and 90’s.

THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON BABY BOOMERS. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION (who are fab) LEAVE THIS MORTAL COIL?!

Here's the next group of poeple to get pissed off about.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/28/millennials-richest-generation-wealth-property

This. Volunteers fill huge gaps in the economies of many struggling and community organisations.

And add in the thousands of paid jobs that are supported by older people being active, the cafes, theatres, cinemas, libraries, gyms, museums, galleries, restaurants relying on our footfall and our grey pounds to keep going.

I pay tax on my pension and a good amount of what is left gets spent supporting the economy/ providing businesses with cash flow/ and justifying government spending in places like museums by being part of their funding demographic.

I suspect immigration from countries where people typically have larger families will fill the gap in numbers. And the birth rate of immigrants who have larger families on average. I think the structure and composition of society will change a lot.

Then climate change will also force change and force people to move. Different places may become more or less desirable. A major world shift no matter what.

I hope so, for the younger than Me (Gen X) Generation

I will be one of those people one day .
I will need to sell quickly when DP dies