A friend of ours has been hosting two couples from Russia recently. A little background is needed first. He met them while participating in a target shooting competition. The Russian men come to the US to hunt trophy animals they also like to gamble in Nevada. They are ex KGB and seem to be middle aged (about mid 50's). The explained that when they were young men there were only two career paths in Russia, become a party politico or join the KGB. They had an interesting observation after spending some time in the country. We have a lot of old people.
When asked to explain, they remarked that there were very many old people in the United States, meaning over the age of 60, actively participating in social life and visible. In Russia, "old people" either are not as active and outgoing as ours are, or there are just less of them due to attrition. Maybe it is the harsh weather, poor health conditions, or just that old people stay home and don't run around in Bermuda shorts at the mall like they do here. I don't know.
Anyway an interesting observation. We have a lot of old people.
Thanks to abortion, Russia actually has an older median age than us but they're probably less visible than ours in their Bermuda shorts. :)
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