Deb Wot, a teacher in the Northwest Territories, and I were exchanging emails about US and Canadian demographics last week. Her blog is Making Sense of my World.



We were discussing a dynamic demographic chart from the US census bureau. The chart shows a population pyramid every year from 1950 through 2050 in 5 year increments. Everything past 2005 is a projection. Here are four snapshots, 30 years apart.



Demographics 1950







click on chart for sharper image



Demographics 1980







Demographics 2010







Demographics 2040







The charts are interesting but to put things into perspective, I wanted to see workers vs. non-workers and workers vs. pensioners. Given that the US and Canada break things down in 5 year increments, the logical breakdowns seem to be:



Youth: Age 0-19

Workers: Age 20-64

Pensioners: Age 65 and up



The dynamic chart has a provision for extracting data. I also have an Excel spreadsheet of demographic data from Canada that Deb Wot extracted from a Canadian source. Deb commented:



I looked closer at the numbers for Canada versus US, in particular the ratio of working age to senior age and I don't like what I see at all. The trend simply looks disastrous to me.



With that in mind, I contacted my friend Nick at Sharelynx Gold to see if he could make some charts for us. Nick was kind enough to oblige. Here are some interesting charts of US and Canadian demographics.



US Population Demographics







click on chart for sharper image



Canada Population Demographics







click on chart for sharper image



Ratio of Workers to Non-Workers







click on chart for sharper image



Ratio of Workers to Pensioners







click on chart for sharper image



The charts show the ratio of workers to non-workers will peak within the next 4 years or so in both the US and Canada. Workers vs. pensioners in the US is peaking now. Workers vs. pensioners in Canada has already peaked.



Fewer workers, making less money than their parents will be supporting both social security and more importantly medical expenses (Medicare) for retirees. Retirees who think home prices will keep financing retirement, need to start thinking again.



Home prices are falling and will likely continue to fall for another four years or so. That statement is based on logic presented in the following articles:



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