The Longevity Brain Economy
The Longevity Brain Economy Why GDP Is No Longer Sufficient & Why Total Social Product, Settlement Infrastructure, and Universal Basic Income Are Becoming Structural Necessities Author: KJ Lavan Executive Summary Global economies are ageing into a structural contradiction. Demographic longevity is rising faster than economic systems, designed for short life cycles, can adapt. Across OECD and high-income economies, population ageing is now a primary driver of declining GDP growth, rising fiscal pressure, and labor-force fragility , not a secondary trend. Empirically: Every 10% increase in the population over age 65 reduces annual GDP growth by ~0.3–0.6 percentage points ¹ Dementia already costs the global economy >$1.3 trillion annually , projected to exceed $2.8 trillion by 2030 ² Long-term care demand is growing 2–3× faster than the available workforce ³ Unpaid care and household labor accounts for 20–50% of real economic a...