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The average age of world leaders
has been rising over the last 50

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years. 
Back in 1975, the average 

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president or Prime Minister was 
55 years old. 

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Today, the average is 62. 
Not just that, but nine out of 

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the 10 most populated countries 
in the world today have leaders 

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over the age of 70. 
That's an improvement. 

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In 2024, it was all 10. 
In African countries where the 

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populations are youngest, the 
leaders are amongst the oldest. 

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The Central African Republic has
the youngest population in the 

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world with a median age of 14 
years old, but its president is 

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67 years old. 
In Uganda, where the median age 

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is 18, the leader is 80 years 
old and the president of 

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Cameroon is the oldest serving 
state leader at 92 in a country 

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where the average age is once 
again 18. 

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According to The Economist, 
countries that have less of a 

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say in who they're governed by 
are driving the trend towards 

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ageing leaders. 
In democracies, Heads of 

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Government tend to be younger 
today than they were 50 years 

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ago. 
In hybrid regimes, where 

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citizens have some political 
rights, Heads of Government are 

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now on average 62 years old, 
which is 9 years older than the 

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leaders were on average in those
countries years 50 years ago. 

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In authoritarian regimes, the 
average dictator is now 64 years

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old, which is 12 years older 
than dictators were 50 years 

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ago. 
This makes a certain amount of 

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sense. 
In autocracies, leaders have 

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always been reluctant to give up
power, and the Economist points 

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out that a big driver of the 
change towards older leadership 

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is just that people are living a
lot longer today than they did 

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in the past. 
We shouldn't expect this to 

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change until either more 
countries adopt democracy or 

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increases in life expectations 
slows down. 

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In the free world, there are 
some interesting changes. 50 

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years ago there were no 
democratically elected leaders 

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under the age of 45, but today 
there are three. 

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Similarly, there were no 
democratically elected leaders 

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over the age of 7550 years ago, 
but now there are 5. 

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So what we're seeing is that the
dispersion in the ages of 

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elected officials in democracies
has grown over time. 

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Amongst wealthy democracies, the
United States is quite an 

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outlier. 
Over the last 50 years, not only

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have its presidents, but all of 
its politicians have gotten 

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significantly older. 
American legislators are the 

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oldest in the rich world. 
The average age of members of 

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the House of Representatives and
Senate is now 59 years old, 

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almost a decade older than the 
average for elected lawmakers in

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the OECDA group of mostly high 
income Democratic nations. 

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Last year, when Joe Biden was 
running against Donald Trump, I 

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compared the two candidates to 
Stotler and Waldorf, the two 

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cantankerous old men in the box 
seats from The Muppet Show, and 

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joked that you wouldn't trust 
either of them with the remote 

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control not to mind running the 
world's largest economy. 

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Joe Biden was 81 years old at 
the time and the oldest sitting 

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president in U.S. history. 
When Donald Trump first took 

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office in 2017, he was 70 years 
old and the oldest inaugurated 

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president in U.S. history. 
This year, at 78 years old, he 

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once again set that record. 
To put these two men's ages in 

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context, Bill Clinton, who was 
inaugurated 32 years ago in 

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1993, is still younger than both
of them. 

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Kamala Harris, who seemed 
remarkably young when compared 

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to Biden and Trump, is still 60 
years old, which is almost a 

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decade older than the average 
European leader. 

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Last year, when the 73 year old 
former British Prime Minister 

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Gordon Brown was asked if he 
would make a political comeback,

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he joked that he was too old to 
be a British politician but too 

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young to be an American. 1 
European countries have some of 

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the smallest age gaps between 
their leaders and their 

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populations. 
Iceland's Prime Minister is 36 

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years old. 
France and Denmark have 47 year 

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old leaders. 
European Heads of Government 

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have in fact been getting 
younger on average since the 

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early 1980s. 
Americans have found themselves 

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being given the choice of 
increasingly old and unpopular 

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presidential candidates to 
choose from in recent years. 

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It's not just presidents either 
though. 

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Up until last year, America's 
most powerful legislative role 

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was held by the 82 year old 
Nancy Pelosi, who was the oldest

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ever Speaker of the House. 
At the same time, the Senate 

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Minority Leader, Mitch 
McConnell, was 82 years old as 

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well. 
While an argument can be made 

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that with age comes wisdom, age 
can also slow our physical and 

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mental abilities. 
In December, an elderly Texas 

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member of Congress who had been 
missing from the capital for six

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months was found to be living in
a retirement community that 

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specializes in memory care. 
Her family acknowledged that she

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had exhibited possible signs of 
dementia. 

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According to the Wall Street 
Journal, not only do half of the

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world's population live in 
countries where the leader is 

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over 70 years old, but leaders 
today, on average are 40 years 

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older than the populations that 
they govern. 

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That is a big difference. 
The mental and physical fitness 

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of our aging political leaders 
came under increased scrutiny 

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during the US presidential 
debates last year when Joe 

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Bidens poor performance fueled 
concerns in his own party that 

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at age 81, he was no longer up 
to the task of leading the 

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country for another four years. 
In 2023, American voters were 

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both horrified and concerned to 
see Mitch McConnell freeze up 

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for more than 30 seconds while 
answering reporters questions 

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before being guided away by 
AIDS. 

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This happened twice within a 
month, and some newspapers said 

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that the freezing spells might 
have been caused by either 

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Parkinson's disease or a 
traumatic injury from a fall he 

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had suffered earlier that year. 
I wonder if it was just driven 

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by a desire to avoid being 
accused of being woke. 

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We'll never know. 
Dianne Feinstein, who died in 

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office at the age of 90, spent 
the last few years of her life 

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clinging to her Senate seat 
despite serious concerns about 

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her mental fitness and clear 
signs of cognitive decline. 

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Concerns over the age of 
politicians are about more than 

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just their cognitive abilities. 
They're about their ability to 

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connect with and represent 
younger generations and to 

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understand the issues that 
matter most to them. 

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Three issues that highlight the 
intergenerational conflicts in 

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recent years are that the young 
are more worried about the 

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environment than the old are. 
Young British voters were in 

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favour of staying in the EU but 
were outvoted by the old During 

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the Brexit referendum and during
the pandemic, restrictions were 

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imposed on children and young 
adults to protect the elderly. 

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It could be argued that the age 
of our leaders is entirely 

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irrelevant. 
What matters is where they stand

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on important policy issues. 
After all, older politicians can

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be expected to take the needs of
the young into account as they 

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care about the welfare of their 
children and grandchildren. 

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German academics found, after 
analysing 24 years of voting 

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behaviour in Bavaria, that old 
and young elected officials had 

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very different policy 
priorities. 

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Young councillors on average 
allocated more funding to social

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spending, in particular to 
public childcare. 

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A similar study in Japan found 
that municipalities with young 

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mayors spent more on welfare for
young families. 

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While politicians might mean 
well, maybe it's just natural to

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make decisions that work best 
for people like you. 

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There are a few factors that 
explain America's gerontocracy, 

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where for the last eight years 
we've seen the oldest presidents

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in history. 
And despite the fact that 39% of

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voting age Americans are under 
the age of 40, only 8% of US 

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legislators in the House of 
Representatives are, which is 

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down from 22% and in 1981. 
The most obvious reason for 

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aging politicians is the 
increase in life expectancy, 

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particularly amongst wealthy 
Americans. 

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When you combine this with the 
decline in birth rates, it means

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that leaders on average are 
getting older, much like the 

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populations they govern. 
Before running for president, 

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most candidates start out as 
congressmen, senators, 

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governors, or in recent years, 
game show hosts. 

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The fact that these feeder roles
are all ageing means that the 

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only people qualified to run for
president are quite old too. 

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While this might explain why 
elected officials are getting 

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older on average, it doesn't 
explain politicians like 

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Feinstein, McConnell, and Biden 
clinging on to office well into 

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their 80s while showing signs of
cognitive decline. 

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And it doesn't really explain 
why roughly 1/4 of Congress is 

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made-up of members who are over 
70 years old. 

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If voters want to elect the 
elderly, they should be able to.

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But most Americans, it seems, 
don't really get a choice. 

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Congressional elections have 
grown less and less competitive 

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over time. 
In recent years, most House 

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races have been won by A10 point
margin or higher. 

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According to Vox. 
In 2018, only 44 out of the 435 

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congressional districts were 
considered toss ups, and in 

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20/22 it was even lower with 
just 36 House elections being 

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considered competitive. 
That year, 98% of incumbents won

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re election. 
The incumbent re election rate 

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in the House of Representatives,
you might be surprised to hear, 

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has never fallen below 85% over 
the last 60 years. 

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What this tells you is that the 
only competitive campaign most 

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U.S. politicians have ever run 
in their entire political 

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careers was their first primary.
After that, their seats are 

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safe, according to a paper from 
the Brookings Institute. 

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Journalists tend to ignore 
political primaries, But 

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primaries, they say, are key to 
understanding factions in 

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American political parties. 
As competition declined over the

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years, the average age of 
congressional members rose. 

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So what's causing this decline 
in competitiveness? 

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Well, incumbents have a huge 
advantage in the two party US 

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system as incumbents are well 
known and have access to big 

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donor bases. 
They've strong relationships in 

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both Washington and in their 
home states. 

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They've experienced staff who 
know how to run a campaign, and 

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they have name recognition. 
Over time, it's become more and 

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more expensive to run an 
election campaign, and 

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incumbents are simply better 
able to raise the sums of money 

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necessary. 
This is the case in countries 

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like Japan and South Korea too, 
and for that reason their 

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governments have been aging, 
just like in the United States. 

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Two big advantages for incumbent
politicians in the United States

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are the increased polarization 
of American voters, where they 

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vote down party lines no matter 
what, and gerrymandering, where 

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lawmakers draw up congressional 
districts to benefit one party 

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or the other. 
Another reason that reduces the 

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influence of young voters is 
that while they might have 

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strong political opinions, they 
often don't vote. 

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In a survey across 33 countries,
44% of young adults between the 

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ages of 18 and 29 said that they
always voted, compared to 60% of

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the entire population. 
Studies do show, however, the 

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young voters are more likely to 
vote in elections when a young 

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candidate is running against an 
older 1. 

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Otherwise they're simply less 
interested. 

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Every democracy around the world
sets a minimum age for holding 

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office. 
In France, once you're 18 you 

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can run for president, while in 
Italy you have to be at least 

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50, even though the role of 
president in Italy is mostly 

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ceremonial. 
All of the age limits, however, 

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are minimums. 
No country sets an upper age 

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limit for high office. 
The 2023 poll showed that nearly

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3/4 of Americans favour an age 
limit for elected officials, 

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with 77% saying that Biden and 
Trump are too old to serve 

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effectively. 
The Financial Times described 

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the age of U.S. politicians in 
2023 as a challenge for 

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democracy. 
While an age limit could be 

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imposed in countries like the 
United States, where politicians

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are sometimes showing symptoms 
of cognitive decline while in 

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office, a limit like this would 
just be papering over the 

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problem of uncompetitive 
elections rather than fixing the

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root causes. 
Neuroscience and psychology show

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the cognitive performance varies
widely as people age. 

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While certain skills tend to 
decline, others, like vocabulary

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skills, often improve. 
There's simply no hard line that

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can be drawn based on signs 
saying that a person is too old 

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to do a good job in office or 
not. 

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Some people, known as super 
agers, have the cognitive 

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function of people many decades 
younger than themselves. 

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So how old is too old to lead is
probably the wrong question. 

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Nikki Haley, who ran against 
Donald Trump for the Republican 

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nomination last year, has 
proposed requiring mental 

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competency tests for politicians
over the age of 75, describing 

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the Senate as the most 
privileged nursing home in the 

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country. 
While many might agree with her,

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with six in 10 Americans telling
a polling company that they were

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very or somewhat concerned that 
members of Congress are too old 

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to represent the American 
people, the concept is still 

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highly controversial and 
politicized. 

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Donald Trump famously boasted 
that he had aced a cognitive 

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test back in 2018, with 
questions that included 

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identifying animal shapes that 
progressively got harder and had

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some very difficult math 
problems. 

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And the doctors? 
Were they said very few people 

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can do that very few people get 
that you understand it's it's 

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not that easy the. 
Test he took, which you can look

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up online, was the Montreal 
Cognitive Assessment which has 

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30 questions and his design and 
to take 10 minutes to complete. 

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Questions include drawing a 
clock, copying a picture of a 

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cube, identifying pictures of 
animals, and repeating a series 

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of four words like. 
A memory question. 

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It's like you'll go person, 
woman, man, camera, TV. 

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So they say, could you repeat 
that? 

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So I said yeah. 
So it's person, woman, man, 

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camera, TV. 
OK. 

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That's very good. 
If you get it in order, you get 

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extra points. 
They said nobody gets it in 

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order. 
It's actually not that easy, but

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for me it was easy. 
This was not exactly an IQ test,

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but he still boasted on the 
campaign trail that it was very 

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difficult and more importantly, 
that Biden probably couldn't 

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pass it. 
Now, while this is possibly 

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quite true, maybe we should set 
a slightly higher standard than 

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that. 
According to data from The 

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Economist, America has the least
age representative government in

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the OECD, where the same 
generation, the baby boomers, 

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have dominated politics for more
than 30 years. 

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Pew Research shows that older 
Americans are most concerned 

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with issues like immigration, 
crime, and a decline in moral 

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values, while young Americans 
are more worried about housing 

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affordability, job prospects, 
affordable health care, and the 

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environment. 
It might be the case that the 

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institutions of government that 
were developed when most people 

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died by the age of 60 are not 
well suited to the modern world,

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00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,120
but the reality today is that 
politicians are holding onto 

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seats as long as they can. 
Thanks for tuning into this 

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00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,080
week's podcast, with particular 
thanks to my supporters on 

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00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,760
Patreon whose financial support 
makes this all work. 

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Have a great week and talk to 
you again soon. 

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Bye.