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Imagine you're at primary school today,
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happily learning about ancient Egypt and
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timetables, only to find out that you
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won't get to retire until the year 2092.
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That might sound outlandish, but a major
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new warning suggests that for children
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now, the golden years of retirement are
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moving further out of reach. The Centre
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for Social Justice just dropped a
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bombshell new report, which said that
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children aged eight and under might have
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to work until they're 75. Why? Because
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the UK is heading off what experts call
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a demographic cliff edge. In 2024, our
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fertility rate hit a record low of 1.41.
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So, for context, to keep a population
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stable, you need 2.1. That's the number
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known as the replacement rate. The UK is
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falling short of this figure by more
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than a quarter of a million births every
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year. The demographic maths are getting
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alarming. In the 1970s, there were four
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workers for every one pensioner, but by
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next year, that number drops to three
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and a half. By the time that these kids
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who are currently at school grow up,
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it's projected to hit a point of just
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two workers retiree. With fewer people
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paying into the system, the pensions
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time bomb isn't just a theory, it's a
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massive black hole in public finances.
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The budget watchdog is already waving
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red flags. If we don't change course,
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public debt could soar to a staggering
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of GDP by the 2070s. That's driven by
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skyrocketing costs of healthcare and
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pensions for an aging population. We're
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essentially asking a shrinking group of
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young taxpayers to carry the heaviest
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financial burden in British history. The
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Centre for Social Justice is calling for
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pro-family policies, similar to France
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and Hungary, such as tax relief for
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young families and housing priority for
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young parents. The goal is to bridge the
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birth gap before it's too late. And the
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group argues that if we don't fix the
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ratio of workers to pensioners now, the
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state pension age won't just rise, it
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will transform the very meaning of old
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age. It's all a sign that the current
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pension system is simply not
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sustainable. And generous benefits like
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the triple lock are very likely to be a
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pipe dream for future generations. So,
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what do you think? Is 75 a realistic
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retirement age? Or is the system
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fundamentally broken? Let us know what
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you think in the comments, and of
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course, subscribe for more deep dives
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into the news shaping your future.
