Eternal Youths
[July 2004 - Demos (UK)] The baby boomers are more affluent than their parents, and they are determined to enjoy themselves. Many seem to be trying to 'have their time again' by revisiting their younger selves and dominating youth culture. Eternal Youths is based on in-depth attitudinal research, which sought to understand this generation up close. The authors warn that politicians and marketers patronise them at their peril. ... (download full PDF of report)

The New Old � How Baby Boomers are Redefining Retirement
[July 2004 - AARP INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES] We live in a rapidly ageing society. By 2007, the number of Britons aged over 65 will exceed the number of those aged under 16 for the first time in history. This is part of a global trend, as life expectancy increases whilst birth rates stabilise or decline across most developed and many developing nations. In the UK, as in many other European countries, the public debate about this demographic revolution has mainly focused on the impact an increasingly older population will have on pensions and the potentially negative impact for welfare and care services. However, what has largely been ignored is a radical attitudinal change, as the large post-war baby boomer generation, born in the UK between 1945 and 1965 and making up approximately 29 percent of the total population, reaches retirement age during the next 20 years. The boomers, who have been at the forefront of social change at every stage in their lives, will be different from current generations of older people and redefine the meaning of retirement. ...