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Most Comprehensive Analysis of Aging in America
Published by Census Bureau
Report looks at past and future of booming population
of senior citizens
 March
9, 2006 - The face of aging in the United States is changing
dramatically — and rapidly, according to a new report from the U.S.
Census Bureau. Today’s older Americans are very different from their
predecessors, living longer, having lower rates of disability, achieving
higher levels of education and less often living in poverty. And the
baby boomers, the first of whom celebrated their 60th birthdays in 2006,
promise to redefine further what it means to grow older in America. Many
of the statistics have been published before but this is the most
complete packaging and analysis to-date.
“The social and economic implications of an aging
population — and of the baby boom in particular — are likely to be
profound for both individuals and society,” says Census Bureau Director
Louis Kincannon.
The report,
65+ in the United States: 2005 [PDF], was commissioned by the
National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National
Institutes of Health, to provide a picture of the health and
socioeconomic status of the aging population. It highlights striking
shifts in aging on a population scale and also describes changes at the
local and even family level, examining, for example, changes in family
structure as a result of divorce.
“The collection, analysis and reporting of
reliable data are critical to informing policy as the nation moves ahead
to address the challenges and opportunities of an aging population,”
says NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “This report tells us that we
have made a lot of progress in improving the health and well-being of
older Americans, but there is much left to do.”
Among the trends:
● The U.S. population age 65 and over is expected
to double in size within the next 25 years. By 2030, almost 1-out-of-5
Americans — some 72 million people — will be 65 years or older. The age
group 85 and older is now the fastest growing segment of the U.S.
population.
● The health of older Americans is improving.
Still, many are disabled and suffer from chronic conditions. The
proportion with a disability fell significantly from 26.2 percent in
1982 to 19.7 percent in 1999. But 14 million people age 65 and older
reported some level of disability in Census 2000, mostly linked to a
high prevalence of chronic conditions such as heart disease or
arthritis.
● The financial circumstances of older people
have improved dramatically, although there are wide variations in income
and wealth. The proportion of people aged 65 and older in poverty
decreased from 35 percent in 1959 to 10 percent in 2003, mostly
attributed to the support of Social Security. In 2000, the poorest fifth
of senior households had a net worth of $3,500 ($44,346 including home
equity) and the wealthiest had $328,432 ($449,800 including home
equity).
● Florida (17.6 percent), Pennsylvania (15.6
percent) and West Virginia (15.3 percent) are the “oldest” states, with
the highest percentages of people age 65 and older. Charlotte County,
Fla., (34.7 percent) has the highest concentration of older residents
and McIntosh County, N.D., (34.2 percent) ranks second.
● Higher levels of education, which are linked to
better health, higher income, more wealth and a higher standard of
living in retirement, will continue to increase among people 65 and
older. The proportion of Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree
grew five-fold from 1950 to 2003, from 3.4 percent to 17.4 percent; and
by 2030, more than one-fourth of the older population is expected to
have an undergraduate degree. The percentage completing high school
quadrupled from 1950 to 2003, from 17 percent to 71.5 percent.
● As the United States as a whole grows more
diverse, so does the population age 65 and older. In 2003, older
Americans were 83 percent non-Hispanic white, 8 percent black, 6 percent
Hispanic and 3 percent Asian. By 2030, an estimated 72 percent of older
Americans will be non-Hispanic white, 11 percent Hispanic, 10 percent
black and 5 percent Asian.
● Changes in the American family have significant
implications for future aging. Divorce, for example, is on the rise, and
some researchers suggest that fewer children and more stepchildren may
change the availability of family support in the future for people at
older ages. In 1960, only 1.6 percent of older men and 1.5 percent of
women age 65 and older were divorced; but by 2003, 7 percent of older
men and 8.6 percent of older women were divorced and had not remarried.
The trend may be continuing. In 2003, among people in their early 60s,
12.2 percent of men and 15.9 percent of women were divorced.
The 65+ report is a project of the NIA’s Behavioral
and Social Research Program, which supports the collection and analyses
of data in several national and international studies on health,
retirement, and aging. The program’s director, Richard M. Suzman, Ph.D.,
suggests that, with five years to go before the baby boom turns 65,
“Many people have an image of aging that may be 20 years out of date.
The very current portrait presented here shows how much has changed and
where trends may be headed in the future.”
The 243-page compendium examines in detail five key
areas: growth of the older population (changes in age and racial/ethnic
composition), longevity and health (life expectancy and causes of
death), economic characteristics (income and household wealth),
geographic distribution (by population and race) and social and other
characteristics (marital status, living arrangements and voting
patterns).
The report covers a wide range of topics and
timelines, pulling together data from Census 2000 and previous censuses,
nationally representative surveys and recent population projections. In
addition to the data compiled by other federal agencies, including the
National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the report also includes statistics from the
Current Population Survey; American Housing Survey; National Health
Interview Survey; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey;
Survey of Income and Program Participation; and the Health and
Retirement Study.
The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality
data about the nation’s people and economy. For more information, visit
the Census Bureau Web site <www.census.gov>.
The NIA is the lead federal agency conducting and
supporting basic, biomedical, and behavioral and social research on
aging and the special needs and problems of older people. For more
information, visit the NIA Web site at <www.nia.nih.gov>
or call toll free 1-800-222-2225.
MORE HIGHLIGHTS
Selected Highlights From 65+ In The United
States: 2005
The older U.S. population is growing rapidly as
baby boomers age and more people are living longer:
● The first baby boomers will turn 65 in 2011;
and people age 65 and over are projected to represent 20 percent of the
total U.S. population in 2030, compared with 12 percent in 2003.
● Average life expectancy at birth in 2000 was
76.9 years; females could expect to live an average of 5.4 years longer
than men.
● About 80 percent of centenarians are women.
● The United States is relatively young compared
with other developed countries. Despite its aging, the United States has
a lower proportion of adults age 65 and older than most countries in
western Europe.
 In
general, older people in the United States are healthier than in the
past, with lower rates of disability. Still, a significant proportion
suffers from health problems and chronic disease, and causes of death
have not changed dramatically:
● Death rates for heart disease are declining
among people 65 years and older; however, heart disease continues to be
the leading cause of death within this population, followed by cancer
and stroke.
● The rates of disability and functional
limitation among the older population have declined substantially over
the past two decades; about 1-in-5 older Americans report having chronic
disability.
● Data comparing people ages 65 to 74 in 1988-94
and 1999-2000 show a startling rise in the percentage of people
considered obese — in men, the proportion grew from about 24 to 33
percent and in women from about 27 percent to 39 percent.
The older population is growing more in some
geographic regions than in others, and it is concentrated in
metropolitan areas:
● Between 1990 and 2000, the largest
proportionate increases in the older population were mainly in the West,
particularly in the Mountain States, and in the South, particularly in
the South Atlantic states.
● In 2000, nine states – California, Florida, New
York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey — had
more than 1 million residents age 65 and over.
● In 2000, almost three-fourths of Hispanics age
65 and up lived in California, Texas, Florida and New York; and nearly
two-thirds of older Asians lived in the West.
● Three-out-of-4 older people lived in
metropolitan areas in 2000.
There is a strong correlation between education
and health. Older adults are becoming more educated, and this continuing
trend could have a positive effect on the health of older people in the
future:
● By 2030, more than one-fourth of the older
population is expected to have at least a bachelor’s degree; and the
percentage of older women with a bachelor’s degree will likely double,
from 13.4 percent in 2003 to 27.8 percent in 2030.
● Substantial educational differences by race and
Hispanic origin exist, despite the overall rise in educational
attainment within the older population. In 2003, 76 percent of older
non-Hispanic whites, 70 percent of older Asians, 52 percent of older
blacks and 36 percent of older Hispanics had completed high school.
● The gender gap in completion of a college
education will narrow in the future because younger men and women are
earning college degrees at roughly the same rate.
Older adults in the United States are far less
likely to live in poverty today than in decades past, although poverty
rates vary by group:
● Between 1959 and 2003, the proportion of people
age 65 and over who lived below the poverty line decreased from 35
percent to 10 percent.
● In 2003, older women were more likely than
older men to be living in poverty (13 percent compared with 7 percent).
● Older non-Hispanic whites (8 percent) were less
likely than older blacks (24 percent) and older Hispanics (20 percent)
to be living in poverty in 2003.
People age 65 and older are less likely to be in
the labor force today than in decades past, but many continue to work:
● Labor force participation rates of men age 65
and older fell dramatically over the past several decades, from 46
percent in 1950 to 19 percent in 2003. Rates for older women did not
change statistically during that time period.
● By 2020, people age 55 and over are expected to
make up 20.3 percent of the labor force, up from 15.1 percent in 2003.
● As employed men and women get older, their
likelihood of working part time increases. In 2003, about half of
employed men age 70 and over and almost two-thirds of employed women
aged 70 and over worked part time.
● Social Security continues to provide the
largest share of income for many older Americans.
The social characteristics of older people vary
greatly, often by age within the post-65 group.
● Three-quarters of the 10.5 million older
Americans living alone in 2003 were women. The proportion varies greatly
by age, with 29.6 percent ages 65 to 74, 47.6 percent ages 75 to 84, and
57 percent age 85 and older living alone.
● In 2000, 4.5 percent of people ages 75 to 84
and 18.2 percent of those 85 and older lived in nursing homes. About
3-in-4 nursing-home residents are women.
● The majority of men majority of men ages 65 to
84 were veterans, reflecting the high proportion of men who served in
the military during World War II.
● People age 65 and older consistently vote in
higher proportions than other age groups. In 2000, 67.6 percent of the
older population said they voted, compared with 49.8 percent of those
ages 25-44; of all the votes cast that year, some 20 percent were by
people age 65 and older.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
The report
65+ in the United States: 2005 [PDF]
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