How the boomers screwed Europe
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Europe | Charlemagne<br>How the boomers screwed Europe<br>The huge rock ’n’ roll generation is sticking its few kids with the bill<br>Share
Illustration: Peter Schrank
May 28th 2026|5 min read
Once upon a time, inequality in Europe was largely horizontal. The rich western half drove BMWs and holidayed abroad, while the poorer east rewired its own appliances and queued for bread. But three decades of catch-up growth in erstwhile communist countries has put paid to jokes about Romanian cars whose top speed was “downhill”. These days inequality in Europe has a vertical dimension—one that goes up and down family trees. Youngsters unable to move out of their parents’ spare room due to sky-high house prices wonder if they will ever enjoy the lifestyle as adults which they knew as kids. Thirty-somethings in jobs pay hefty taxes to fund the pensions of oldies who retired in their prime. Costs related to ageing are guzzling a quarter of the European Union’s GDP, a figure unlikely to fall as the Old Continent grows older still. To be a young European is to feel oneself an unwitting participant in an intergenerational confidence trick.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Grey expectations”
From the May 30th 2026 edition<br>Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents<br>⇒Explore the edition
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