The Demography of Aging and Retirement

Abstract

The United States is both aging and becoming more diverse. To understand the phenomenon of retirement, it is necessary to understand not only the demographic changes that are currently underway but also projections of change in the coming decades. This chapter examines how demography has intersected with public policy, as well as the characteristics of retirees and family dynamics, to shape retirement in the past, present, and future. It focuses on how demographic factors affect retirement patterns and the need for and supply of workers. Combining demographic projections with current knowledge about incentives and disincentives to work or retire allows extrapolation to potential scenarios for the future of retirement.