The World Now Has More Older Adults Than Young Children
Friday, 2026/09/11110 words2 minutes236 reads
For most of history, the world had more very young children than older adults. That has now changed. A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau says people aged 65 and over became more numerous than children aged 0 to 5 between 2020 and 2025.
In 2025, about 852 million people were 65 or older. They made up 10.5 percent of humanity. By 2060, that share could reach 19.6 percent, or almost one in five people. Two main forces explain the shift: people live longer, and families are having fewer children. The news does not mean older people are a problem. It means societies must adapt to a changing population.
