ABSTRACT
How many grandparents are there in the world? No one knows the answer to that question, but we can make some approximations. The first important fact to take into account is that there are more than seven billion people on the planet and, with declining birth rates and longer life expectancy, we’re getting older (United Nations, 2013). The global share of people aged over 60 increased from 9.2 per cent in 1990 to 11.7 per cent in 2013, and is predicted to reach 21.7 per cent by 2050, more than 2 billion people. We also know that the average age for becoming a grandparent is quite a bit younger than age 60; even in developed countries such as Britain and the USA, it is more likely to be early 50s, and in developing countries, younger again (Statistic Brain Research Institute, 2014; Womack, 2005). Finally, while not everyone has children and not every parent becomes a grandparent, and there is considerable variation across nations and cultures, estimates suggest that most – perhaps around 70 to 80 per cent – of older adults do become grandparents. So we are talking about a cohort of almost one billion people on earth who are grandparents right now – a formidable force.
