欧洲的不平等已从东西部之间的横向差距，转向沿家庭世代上下延伸的纵向差距。老龄化相关成本正在吞噬欧盟GDP的四分之一，而1945年后20年出生、如今约60至80岁的婴儿潮一代是这一转变的核心受益者。

住房是最明显的数字证据：扣除通胀后，欧洲房价仅十年就上涨了四分之一，租金也比收入增长更快。在20世纪80年代出生的人中，将近四分之一到30岁时仍住在父母家，是早二十年出生者比例的1.5倍，说明住房拥有权正被继承预期取代。

养老金压力显示出更尖锐的比例恶化：1960年西欧每名养老金领取者由5名以上工人支持，如今只有2.5名。现收现付养老金把负担推给当前和未来的年轻纳税人，法国最近总统选举选民年龄中位数为52岁，接近有效退休年龄十年内，使预算更倾向保护养老金和养老院，而非教育与创新。

Europe’s inequality has shifted from a horizontal gap between east and west to a vertical gap running up and down family generations. Ageing-related costs are consuming one quarter of EU GDP, while the baby-boomers born in the two decades after 1945, now roughly aged 60 to 80, are the central beneficiaries of this shift.

Housing is the clearest numerical evidence: after inflation, European house prices have risen by one quarter in just a decade, and rents have also grown faster than incomes. Among people born in the 1980s, nearly one quarter still lived with their parents at age 30, 1.5 times the share for those born two decades earlier, showing how home ownership is being replaced by expectations of inheritance.

Pension pressure shows an even sharper deterioration in ratios: in 1960 western Europe had more than five workers supporting each pensioner, but today it has only 2.5. Pay-as-you-go pensions push the burden onto current and future young taxpayers, while the median voter in France’s latest presidential election was 52, within a decade of the effective retirement age, making budgets favor pensions and old-age homes over education and innovation.

Source: How the boomers screwed Europe

Subtitle: The huge rock ’n’ roll generation is sticking its few kids with the bill

Dateline: 5月 28, 2026 08:37 上午