Average ham is 68 years old and clubs cannot recruit younger operators

The average ARRL member is 68 years old. The average non-member ham is 52. In Europe, the average exceeds 70 in most countries. The licensed population is declining at 1-1.5% per year in countries with reliable statistics (Germany). Who has this problem? The entire amateur radio service — clubs, contest groups, emergency teams, and the institutions that depend on volunteer communicators. So what? As older operators become unable to maintain equipment, climb towers, or staff emergency positions, the institutional knowledge of RF propagation, antenna design, and emergency protocols is lost. So what? Clubs that once had 100+ active members now struggle to find officers, maintain repeaters, or staff public service events. So what? Emergency management agencies that built ARES/RACES plans around volunteer ham operators are discovering the volunteer pool has aged out of physical capability. So what? The amateur radio spectrum allocation itself becomes politically vulnerable — if usage declines enough, commercial interests will argue the spectrum is underutilized and should be reallocated. Why does this persist? The hobby's culture is unwelcoming to newcomers (gatekeeping, jargon, emphasis on expensive equipment), the licensing exam tests obsolete knowledge (vacuum tube theory), and the core value proposition of 'talk to people far away' is trivially solved by the internet and smartphones for anyone under 40.