The world is becoming a place with more grandparents than ever before. Longer lives and smaller families have quietly reshaped the family tree, giving grandparents—especially grandmothers—a growing role in raising children and sustaining working parents. In this episode, we explore how this demographic shift affects women’s participation in the workforce, why grandparental care looks so different in countries from Senegal to Mexico, and what happens when older generations are stretched thin by competing demands. As some societies rely heavily on family support while others lean on the welfare state, the story reveals how grandparents have become an invisible pillar of modern economies—and why that support is both invaluable and increasingly strained.

https://www.economist.com/international/2023/01/12/the-age-of-the-grandparent-has-arrived