The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is the representative body for radio amateurs worldwide. The IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH made a presentation at the 2026 RSGB Conference titled 'What is next for the amateur radio service?'
One of the key challenges that VE6SH highlighted was the ageing amateur radio population. One of the graphics that he used was the age profile of membership of the URE, the national society for radio amateurs in Spain.
There are some caveats here. One, this is the membership profile for members of the URE which may not be an exact match for radio amateurs in Spain. Two, this is an example for one country and that may not exactly match the age profile for membership of amateur radio organisations in other countries.
However, I think it's safe to assume that it's reasonably representative of the general amateur radio population in most countries A large percentage of radio amateurs are now between 55 and 79 and there are a lot fewer aged below 50 becoming radio amateurs.
The presentation by VE6SH was part of a live stream of the conference on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiUs-aSVTBU&t=10068s
It starts at 0:33 and runs until 1:11. There is a follow up panel discussion which then runs until 1:39.
