Popa, I don’t need hard data. I have no doubt that there’s a growing population and an age gap (typically).
I do agree, as I’ve posted, that there’s a downside. There’s also an upside: kedusha. This is in Chaza”l, and the Chazon Ish held it applied in his day, and R’ Chaim holds it applies today, so I don’t easily dismiss it.
Also, I wouldn’t necessarily expect a bima klop, because then you’d get bochurim who aren’t ready yet (l’shitaseinu) starting to go out. Maybe RY are already privately encouraging guys to start earlier.