Did Obama say '80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on'?

A video of former U.S. President Barack Obama saying, "It's fair to say that 80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on, who are afraid of death, and insignificance, and they won't let go," circulated on social media in late September 2025. Social media users posted the video on sites like YouTube (archived) and Threads (archived). One X post (archived) of the video received nearly 3 million views.

OBAMA: It's fair to say that 80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on who are afraid of death and insignificance, and they won't let go. They build pyramids, and they put their names on everything. They get very anxious about it. pic.twitter.com/POWcEpyYGr

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 25, 2025

The clip of Obama saying the quote was said to come from an event, "An Evening With President Obama," that took place at the O2 Arena in London on Sept. 24, 2025. It consisted of a dialogue between Obama and British historian David Olusoga. The full version of the quote that circulated read as follows:

It's fair to say that 80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on, who are afraid of death and insignificance, and they won't let go. They build pyramids, and they put their names on everything. They get very anxious about it.

However, the clip circulating on social media did not include the full context of the quote, and no official recordings or transcripts of the event were available online as of this writing. As there was no way to independently verify the authenticity of the quote, we have left this claim unrated and will update the story if further information emerges.

We reached out to the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama to inquire whether the quote was accurate. We also reached out to the host of the event, Seat Unique, to request an official recording and transcript of the event. We will update the story if we receive any responses.

What we know

The clip of Obama saying the alleged quote did not show any obvious signs of alteration or any evidence of being generated by artificial intelligence.

We can confirm that the event itself took place, as multiple trustworthy news outlets, such as The Times and The Independent, have covered it. Obama also posted a clip (archived) from the event on his X account, which matched visually with the short video circulating social media.

Obama said something very similar in December 2019 at an event in Singapore. The exact quote, according to a BBC report, was, "If you look at the world and look at the problems, it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way." Then-Politico reporter Tim Alberta also cited that quote during a Democratic debate that took place shortly after the event.

For further reading, Snopes investigated the claim that Obama said he would "be fine with a third term."