Comment: Two things of enormous significance happened without much notice - one has to do with age, and the other with wealth | MattWadeSMH
Trade wars, political turmoil and climate crisis grabbed headlines in 2019. But two things of enormous significance happened without much notice.
The traditional population pyramid – with a small number of old people at the top and a large number of young people at the bottom – is starting to look more like a rectangle in most nations as age cohorts of about equal size stretch out across the life span.iStock While many people in that category have a lower standard of living than what Australians might consider middle class, they do have discretionary income that can be used to buy consumer goods such as motorcycles, refrigerators or washing machines.Once a family reaches that level of spending power they can afford to go to movies or dine out and invest more in education and healthcare.
“From now on, the world will have ever fewer poor people, about the same number of youth and young adults, and many more old and rich people,” the economists write. The growing global middle class will also reshape politics as it pressures governments to perform better.
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