> when it no longer is (as is the case in much of Europe) it becomes problematic. Not necessarily. What matters here is whether production matches demand. If t

> when it no longer is (as is the case in much of Europe) it becomes problematic. Not necessarily. What matters here is whether production matches demand. If the proportion of people in the workforce declines, but their productivity increases by the same amount (which isn't far from being the case in Europe) you don't have a problem. And even that is too simple. As the population ages, demand changes. It increases im certain domains (health) so productivity increase might not suffice. ...but then of course the productivity of older people declines too, together with their health (higher unemployment, more sick leaves), so there is a lower and lower ROI as you put these people in the workforce. And then making people work longer accelerates the health decline, and so increases the demand. Except those people die younger on average, lowering the demand. So it's a supply and demand issue, but not quite a supply and demand of workers. It's a complicated economic problem. All of this is talked about in the French debate, which is a lot more subtle than the loud vociferations reported in the news make it out to be.