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Americans are well on their way to a situation that no population has ever seen: each age group, except the very oldest, will contain virtually as many people as every other. The picture of a population by age has traditionally been a pyramid, with a relatively small group of older people at the top, a middling amount of middle-aged people in the middle, and the bulk of the population young adults, teenagers, and children. As recently as 1970, the pyramid was a good representation of the U.S. population. (The Depression cinched that pyramid around the middle, and the post-war Baby Boom widened it just above the bottom.) Now the pyramid is turning into a pillar, with both more older people and more middle-aged people relative to young people than ever before. This is happening because life expectancy continues to improve, lengthening the number of years people live. Meanwhile, Americans continue to prefer the two-child family, so the fertility rate is stable. The numbers of young people are still increasing, as more babies are born in the U.S. each year than the year before. However, their share of the population is decreasing, since the growth in the older population is so great. When policy makers hear this, no matter what their political persuasion they respond, "That's bad." They don't really think it's bad that people aren't dying young anymore. But they know that this realignment has the potential to be more politically challenging than any demographic realignment we've experienced. Every institution will feel its effects, from the military broadening its recruiting strategies beyond very young adults, to publishers creating new vehicles for advertisers to reach free-spending older audiences. Some Americans are frightened by potential population decline in Japan and several European countries, and its wrenching effect on retirement and other longstanding policies. However, the U.S. situation is very different:
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