A Note About This Piece

Election day is just over a week away and recently there's been heightened awareness about the age of sitting senators.

This conversation is fueled by the fact that the senate chambers have seem to become a place for self-imposed lifetime appointments by career politicians who refuse to step aside so younger generations can start leading and shaping the world they themselves will be living in.

According to USAFacts, as of 2021, 16.8% of the U.S. population is 65 and over. On election day this year, 56% of our U.S. senate will be 65 and over.

On election day there will also be (2) oldest senators, both 89 years old. (Note: (1) of those senators is up for reelection this year).

Below are some tweets that summarize this senate age conversation pretty well. The hope is this histogram and comparison of age ranges in of the U.S. population vs. senate can contribute some hardcore numbers to this conversation and help viewers vizualize the misrepresenation of ages in our senate chambers.

Check out this piece that continues the gallery's senate age analysis.






Creators: Hailey (Hails) Hoyat
Version: 1.0
Tools Used: Google Sheets
Data Source: https://www.senate.gov/senators/, https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population