Lost generation

South Africans born in 2010 shouldn’t expect to live beyond 40. The ravages of AIDS are to blame. Life expectancy is already low, with men and women expecting to live only until their fifties. But in less than a decade the spread of HIV will drive that figure down to 37 for women and 38 for men, says a respected annual report by labour relations consultancy NMG-Levy. The country will lose a whole generation of productive workers aged between 20 and 50, leaving behind a crippled country dominated by children below 15 and adults over 50.