Brian Mann, Correspondent, NPR National Desk
April 10, 2026
Geriatricians of the World Unite!
You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Canes!
With apologies to Marx (Karl, not Groucho), we are now told that those of us born sometime before JFK’s inauguration form a “geriatric culture.”
There is nothing wrong with canes but tossing a large share of Americans into a geriatric dumpster seems both rude and nonsensical.
In fact, active and engaged older people are one of the main reasons that our national economy can thrive with smaller families.
Let’s look at the facts.
I’m one of nearly 12 million in the US at or beyond full retirement age who are still employed. Older workers form the most rapidly growing segment of the US workforce. Since 2000, the number of US workers who are 55+ has increased by at least 17 million.
Recently, The Economist reported that “over the past five years or so American productivity has been growing at the fastest rate in around two decades.” Firms that have a larger share of workers who are 50+ experience higher levels of productivity.
Beyond that, about 16 million of us “geriatrics” volunteer to make our communities better. In terms of total hours of volunteer service, we’re the most productive age group.
It turns out that “70 is the new 53.” The International Monetary Fund found that on average, a person who was 70 in 2022 had the same cognitive ability as a 53-year-old in 2000. Working — whether for compensation or as a volunteer — can be a magic elixir.
Goldman Sachs recently reported:
“The most direct means of offsetting the impact of population aging on total-population employment rates is for people to extend their working lives in proportion to the extension of their biological lives.”
I’ll let Goldman Sachs have the last word: “Living longer really is a good thing.”
You can learn more about population aging and the economy on our website.
If, like me, you’re one of those still working or actively volunteering well past “retirement age,” send me an email sharing your story.
Noteworthy Comment on my recent Hantavirus Connection column:
I appreciated the gist of your message, but I am concerned that many readers will either fail to absorb it or worse, find it unnecessarily confusing (and/or even incorrect).
NB First copying your text.
As human population grows, we increasingly encroach on previously undisturbed ecosystems, blurring the boundaries between human and animal habitats. This brings people into closer contact with wildlife species, which have long managed to coexist with specific viruses.
My rewording to stick to what readers may have already understood, based on contemporary ecology.
As human population grows, we increasingly swamp our never entirely separate ecosystems involving all living things—considering the five kingdoms (the macroscopic animals, plants, fungi, and the microscopic bacteria [monera] and protista) that may live both outside and inside our bodies. Our habitats will both align, overlap, and stack. This brings ever larger numbers of people into much closer contact with a plethora of wildlife species and in turn their parasites and bacteria, which may have managed to separately coexist when more dispersed and in fewer numbers.
Myrdene Anderson, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics, Purdue University
