When Jagdeep Dhankhar stepped down as Vice-President, citing age-related health issues, discussions on ageing in politics sharpened in India. The suggestion of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat two months ago that leaders should step aside at the age of 75 had also triggered a debate. Narendra Modi continues as Prime Minister despite crossing the age of 75 and so do several other leaders, underscoring the lack of a clear retirement norm.
The BJP’s unofficial age limit of 75 years — symbolised by the creation of the Margadarshak Mandal, often seen as a euphemism for the party’s retirement cell — has kept the spotlight on the question of when politicians should call it a day.
At the State level too, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s age and health have emerged as key talking points ahead of the Bihar elections. Several instances of incoherence at public events have raised doubts about his ability to take crucial policy decisions and effectively discharge his duties. This is in sharp contrast to the image of ‘sushasan babu (boss of good governance)’ that he cultivated during his early years.
In fact, gerontocracy — commonly defined as rule by a group of old men or a council of elders — has become an important theme in the global discourse on democracy. In the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, age dominated the campaign conversation: Joseph Biden, the oldest President in American history, left office at 82, while his successor Donald J. Trump took office at 78 years and 220 days, setting a record as the oldest to be inaugurated.
That year, celebrated worldwide as the ‘year of democracy’ for its many pivotal elections, saw the rise of several geriatric leaders to power, including Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, 79; Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 75; and Narendra Modi, 74.
The persistence of gerontocracy is evident even among unelected leaders and dictators. From long-ruling strongmen in parts of Africa to supreme leaders in oil-rich Asian republics, many continue to hold on to office well into old age. Authoritarian leaders such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 72, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, also 72, have extended their grip on power for decades, underscoring how age is rarely a barrier to political dominance outside democratic systems.
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This trend of elderly leaders dominating politics, whether through democratic elections or authoritarian rule, is hardly new. Gerontocracy was a defining feature of governance in the Greek city-states and the Roman Senate, where advancing age was closely associated with wisdom and experience, creating a form of traditional authority that legitimised the rule of the old.
An analysis of the ages of India’s Prime Ministers shows a steady upward trend. At independence in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister at 58, serving with a median age of 66 during his tenure. By 2014, Narendra Modi entered office at 63, and the median age of Prime Ministers had climbed to 76. The range has been wide: Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest to assume office at 40, while Morarji Desai was the oldest, taking charge at 81.
Tellingly, Nehru died while in office at 74 in 1964, whereas Manmohan Singh, the last Prime Minister before Modi, stepped down in 2014 at 81. Across India’s history, the median age of Prime Ministers has hovered around 67.
In comparison, the median age of Chief Ministers increased only modestly, from 57 in the 1950s to 59.5 in the 2020s, with the peak decade being 2010–2020 when it touched 62.25. A breakdown by party — regional versus national, and within national parties between the Congress and the BJP — shows negligible variation, with the average age of Chief Ministers across the board hovering around 58 years.
The presence of younger leaders such as Nayab Singh Saini, Mohan Yadav, and Yogi Adityanath might suggest that the BJP promotes younger talent, especially when contrasted with the Congress’s image as India’s ‘Grand Old Party’. However, our analysis shows minimal difference in average age between the two.
In general, the younger appointments across parties are balanced out by veterans such as the late Prakash Singh Badal in Punjab, the late V.S. Achuthanandan in Kerala, and the late M. Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu, all of whom served well into their late 80s and 90s.
The age profile of the Lok Sabha has shifted markedly over the decades (Chart 1), with the 18th Lok Sabha, which began its term last year, being the “oldest” yet.
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The average age of parliamentarians rose from 46.5 years in 1952 to 56 years by 2014. Meanwhile, the share of younger members (25–40 years) declined sharply from about 25-30% in the early years to under 10%. In contrast, the share of members aged 56-70 grew from less than 25% to nearly 40% by 2019. The data makes clear that India’s Parliament is ageing, with fewer young politicians making it into the House over time.
If we were to pick out a random Indian, there is a 50% probability that they are less than 30 years old. However, this probability is 0.007% if we were to do the same for a member of the Lok Sabha.
Chart 2 shows the number of MPs in Lok Sabha under the age of 35, over the years.
Chart 3 shows the age-profile of MPs in the Lok Sabha over the years.
Sarthak Bagchi teaches at Ahmedabad University and Arja Kakkad, studies in Ashoka University
Source: Book titled ‘House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy’ by Ronojoy Sen
Published – September 25, 2025 07:00 am IST
