“The historical record of this generation of retirees (from 1968) is a gigantic increase in life expectancy, through its creativity, its innovation”, according to Jean Viard

Tomorrow, Monday September 30, is the start of the week of retirees and the elderly, the “blue week”. Who are today’s retirees? Decryption with sociologist Jean Viard.

This Monday September 30 opens the traditional blue week with lots of activities and round tables throughout France, until October 6, a week dedicated to retirees or the elderly.

franceinfo: There are more than 17 million retirees today in France. Can we first draw up a sketch of the retiree?

Jean Viard: There are 18 million French people over 60 years old. Retired means receiving a pension, it does not mean old. There are old people who don’t have a pension. It’s the post-war generation, basically, it’s the generation of ’68, those who are retired now. The previous generation – the people of the 20s and 30s, between the two wars – never thought they would live this long. So they have not prepared for their retirement.

In 1945, retirement was given at 65 years, because the life expectancy of the worker was 67 years. For us, retirement can last 20 to 25 years, so we are joining the generation that has a retirement plan built very long in advance. How to take it, are we going to buy a camper van, are we tidying up the house to be on one level, etc.? since the majority of retirees will end their lives at home.

So, it is the fact of having anticipated, and of having made a project, and these retirees have the same morals as they had in 1968. It is a very liberated generation in space, a generation which has known the car, the TV, the dishwasher, obviously, it depends on the income you have, but 75% of retirees are owners, and the average income of retirees is 1,420 euros.

We must say one thing which is very important: in France, overall, there are 14.5% of people who are below the poverty line, but among retirees, there are only 8.7%; retirees are less poor than others, notably because 75% are owners, and obviously they do not have rent to pay.

But in fact, we often present these retirees as the heirs, the representatives of a golden generation, is it fair or not?

Speaker 1: ThisI’m sure we’re a golden generation, I’m part of it. There are tens of thousands who are local elected officials, presidents of associations, etc. Retirees are the basis of democracy. They vote, they participate in elections, they participate in associations, so they continue to fight in society. It is essential to say it.

We always say it’s a vote of retirees. Well yes, it’s a vote of retirees. There could be a youth vote, that would be good. Yes, we didn’t experience war, yes it’s true that we experienced the pill, we had much more liberated sexual activities than our parents. Yes, women have rarely been pregnant without having wanted it, etc. All of these are important elements.

Afterwards, life expectancy has increased so much thanks to the work of this generation, we have gained around 20 years of life expectancy since the war, thanks to the work of researchers, doctors, changes in lifestyles, the reduction of extremely arduous professions, the end or reduction of mines. So the historical record of this generation is a gigantic increase in life expectancy through its creativity, its innovation.

What you mean, what we must also not forget, despite the criticism, is that this generation has contributed a lot to society?

Speaker 1: That’s obviously it: she walked on the Moon, if we can simply take an extraordinary element in human history. The discovery of the ecological crisis was in the 1970s. We can blame whatever we want, but the previous generations did not have this awareness, a bit like the romantics in the 19th century. So indeed, this generation continued to advance, to create, to develop, to make highways, to develop aviation in the wake of previous generations.

And then at the end of the 20th century, suddenly, we understood that we had gone too far and that we had engaged in a fight with nature and that it was nature that was going to make history, because that she had been seriously injured. But blaming people for something you didn’t know is always a bit complicated.

Are these retirees today better taken into account by society? ?

I will tell you one thing about voting retirees, we take them into consideration even more because they actually impose, including sometimes traditional values, because they vote. In democracy, the problem is that young people vote very little.