Policy

America’s fastest-growing demographic: Older people

Baby Boomers are in retirement years, medical advances are keeping us alive longer, and fewer children are being born.
FILE – In this July 3, 2017 file photo, a man and woman walk under trees down a path at Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

If the American population could collectively look in the mirror, it would see a lot more gray hair in the reflection than it would have a decade ago.

Senior citizens have exploded as a share of the population in the United States, as members of the Baby Boom generation move into their retirement years, medical advances keep us alive longer, and fewer children are born to make up the next generation of Americans.

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