demographics of the aging people

8/20/2019 Demographics of The Aging people

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Demographics of Aging

//transgenerational.org/aging/demographics.htm[11/19/2015 8:54:22 PM]

Demographics of Ag ing

Perceptions of Age

Myths of Aging

Age and Abi li ty

The Demographics of Aging...

Fifty million aging Baby Boomers are sparking demand for products and environments that accommodate their changing physical and sensory capabilities.

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The Aging Process

Aging

PopulationCharacteristics

The Swelling Aging

Population

Why the Population

is Aging

The Skewed Sex

Ratio

Race and Ethnicit y

Characteristics of Our Aging Population

Human Aging— A Recent Phenomenon

NEVER BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY has our planet contained so many

older people— or such a large percentage of them. This has not always

been the case. As late as 1930, America's older population numbered less

than 7 million—only 5.4% of the population.

Today, one in three Americans is now 50 or older. By 2030 one out of every

five people in the U.S. will be 65-plus. One out of every 8 Americans is

considered "old" and represent 12.9% of the U.S. population.Those age 65

and older numbered 39.6 million in 2009, a number that has continued to

explode.

The latest U.S. Census Bureau brief on data from the 2010 Census shows

seniors increasing faster than younger populations, raising the nation's

median age from 35.3 in 2000 to 37.2 in 2010, with seven states having a

median age of 40 or older.

In the year 2000, people 65+ represented 12.4% of the population—a

number expected to swell to 19% of the population by 2030. Between 2000

and 2010, the 45 to 64 population grew 31.5 percent to 81.5 million, and

now makes up 26. 4 percent of the total U.S. population. This rapid growth is

due to aging of the Baby Boom generation.

January 2011 ushered in the first of approximately 77 million Baby Boomers,

born from 1946 through 1964 and surging toward the gates of retirement. Each year more than 3.5 million Boomers turn 55. Their swelling numbers

predict that, by 2030, there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more

than twice their number in 2000.

And according to the UN Population Division, 1 in 5 people are expected to

be 65 or older by 2035.This dramatic growth in numbers and proportions,

increased life expectancies, and energetic life styles, now enables us to live

20 to 25% of our lives in active retirement. Moreover, today's physically and

intellectually active younger generations predict that tomorrow's elderly

population will be better educated, healthier, culturally literate and, as

individuals, more discerning consumers.

As they begin to experience declines in their physical and sensory

capabilities, they will demand—and respond to—products and services that

help them maintain their active lifestyles and activities: flexible scheduling,

continuing education, travel, intellectual and stimulating experiences, and

opportunities for companionship.

Transgenerational design provides a harmonious bond between products

and services and the people that use them. Additional information—

http://transgenerational.org/aging/aging-process.htmhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://transgenerational.org/aging/aging-process.htmhttp://transgenerational.org/aging/aging-process.htm


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including a description of "Transgenerational Design", its origins, benefits,

and history—can be found on Wikipedia.

The Elderly Sub-Population

THE DRAMATIC INCREASE in the number

of people reaching age 65 — coupled with

their increased life expectancy — have

expanded the classification of those age 65

and older to include three sub-populations

commonly referred to as the "young old," the

"old," and the "old-old" groups.

The "Young Old" 65-74The first wave of aging Baby Boomers reached full retirement age in 2011.

For the next 20 years, 74 million Boomers will retire. This means that 10,000 new retirees will be added to the Social Secrity and Medicare rolls each day.

The "Old" 74-84During the next decade, increased life expectancy will strengthen the wave

of aging Boomers and steadily increase their total number contained within

the elderly sub-population.

The "Oldest-Old" 85+ The fastest-growing segment of the total population is the oldest old—those

80 and over. Their growth rate is twice that of those 65 and over and almost

4-times that for the total population. In the United States, this group now represents 10% of the older population and will more than triple from 5.7

million in 2010 to over 19 million by 2050.

Elderly Boomers Will be Different

UNLIKE THEIR PARENTS GENERATION ,

Boomers will be a market with very different

characteristics. They exercise twice as much

as previous generations. No bocci ball or badminton—no rocking chairs or vegitating in

the desert sun.

They'll continue to bike, hike, swim, sail, and ski—play softball and

basketball. They'll move to the mountains, beaches, islands, college towns

— where the physical and intellectual action is.

A survey by Del Web showed that half of them expect to work at least part-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_designhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_design


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time once they retire. And they'll want offices in their homes—with highspeed

internet connections for those two or more computers, which 40 percent of

them already own. As LeRoy Hanneman, president and CEO of Del Web

says...

"Boomers should be called "Zoomers."

The Swelling Aging Population

A Recent Global Phenomenon

AS WE ENTER THE TWENTY FIRST

CENTURY, population aging has emerged

as a major demographic trend worldwide.

Declining fertility, and improved health and

longevity, have swelled the older populations

dramatically—and at an unprecedented rate.

For the f irst time in history, people aged 65 and over will soon

outnumber children under the age of 5.

Throughout the world today, there are more people aged 65 and older

than the entire populations of Russia, Japan, France, Germany and

Australia—combined.

By 2030, 55 countries are expected to see their 65 and older

populations at least 20 percent of their total.

By 2040, the global population is projected to number 1.3 billion older

people —accounting for 14 percent of the total.

By 2050, the U.N. estimates that the proportion of the world's

population age 65 and over will more than double, from 7.6% today to

16.2%.

Projected Acceleration of Population Aging

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Source: United Nations, 2009

.

Future Projections

IN 2009, THE GLOBAL POPULATION OF

PEOPLE AGED 60 AND OVER was 680

million people, representing 11 percent of

the world's population. They have increased

by 10.4 million just since 2007—an average

increase of 30,000 each day.

HERE ARE THE PREDICTIONS:

By 2050, the 60 and older population will increase from 680 million to

2 billion—increasing from 11 to 22 percent of the world's population.

From 1950 to 2050, the world population will have increased by a

factor of 3.6; those 60 and over will have increased by a factor of 10;

and those 80 and over by a factor of 27.

By 2050, Europe will continue to be the world's oldest region with its

elder population increasing more than five fold—from 40 million to 219 million.

Only 5 percent of Africa's population is projected to be 65 and older by

2050, with sub-Sararan Africa remaining the world's youngest region.

China and India have the largest older populations. By 2050, China

will see its number of elders grow 30% from 109 million to 350 million

—India, from 62 million to 240 milion.


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Japan, with today's largest share of the world's old-age population, will

see its percentage of those 60 and over rise from 27 percent to 44

percent in 2050.

By 2050, more than 70 countries, representing about one third of the

world's population, will surpass Japan's present old-age share of 27

percent.

In the coming decades, all regions of the globe will experience population aging. Today's 5-22 percent range will become an 11-34

percent range in 2050 (UN, 2009)

One of Nine Americans is Old

TODAY IN THE UNITED STATES, 40.3

million Americans are age 65 and older, an

estimated 13% of the population, according

to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And their number is expected to more than

double to 89 million by 2050.

SOME SURPRISING FACTS:

The United States contains more people age 65 and older than the

total population of Canada.

Americans aged 65 and older outnumber the combined populations of

New York, London, and Moscow.

In 2010, Baby Boomers will begin reaching age 65, swelling the 65

and over population in the United States from 13.0 to 20.0 percent by

the year 2050.

America's elderly population is expected to reach 72 million by 2030,

more than double the number in 2000.

THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION ON AGING reports that in 2009 the older

population of those 65 and older was 39.6 million, representing 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, or about one in every eight Americans.

Back in 2000, people aged 65 and older represented 12.4 percent of the

population. By 2030, there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more

than twice their 2000 number.

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf


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Growing Old, At Home

TOMORROW'S ELDER POPULATION will differ from those of past

decades. They will enjoy longer lives, better health and more active life

styles than previous generations. Still, the overwhelming majority will also

face a growing and continuous challenge—maintaining their precious

independence.

Today, according to the AARP, upon retirement, 9 out of 10 seniors already

stay where they are, prefering to grow old in their own homes. But

successful "aging in place" demands that one's home and household

products not only provide continuedenjoyment and stimulation, it must also

support one's declining functional limitations and enhance one's quality of

life.

Refusing to be stigmatized by living in a "home for the Aged" or using

"elderly products," aging Baby Boomers will seek out designs that

accommodate rather than discriminate, symmpathize rather than stigmatize,

and appeal to users of all ages and abilities.

Transgenerational design provides the accommodation everyone

seeks!

Why the Population is Aging

Three factor s dr ive the Increase in li fe expectancy:

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AGE DYNAMICS - Past variations in birth and death rates affect the

evolution of a country's age structure (i.e., the 1946-1964 baby boom

in the United States).

DECLINING FERTILITY RATES - A declining share of young people

within the general population causes the population's share of older

people to rise automatically.

LONGEVITY INCREASE - As the population ages, there is general agreement that an increse in life expectancy will continue.

Life Expectancy at an All Time High

According to the Centers of Disease

Control and Prevention, life

expectancy at birth has risen to a new

high of nearly 78 years. Today, a newborn infant can expect to live for

78.3 years.

Two thousand years ago the average

Roman could expect to live 22 years.

Those born in 1900 could only expect

to live 47.3 years.

By 1930, life expectancy had risen to 59.7 years, rising again in 1960 to 69.7

years. Continuing its dramatic rise, life expectancy increased 1.4 years from 76.5 in 1997 to 77.9 in 2007.

This dramatic increase in life expectancy is not accidental. Its substantial and

pleasing rise results from infectious disease control, public health initiatives,

and new surgical and rabilitation techniques.

Declin ing Mortality Rates

While heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death, accounted

for nearly half (48.5 percent) of all deaths in 2007, mortality rates declined

significantly for eight of the 15 leading causes of death:

influenza and pneumonia (down 8.4 percent)

homicide (down 6.5 percent)

accidents (down 5 percent)

heart disease (down 4.7 percent)

stroke (down 4.6 percent)

diabetes (down 3.9 percent)

hypertension (down 2 .7 percent)

cancer (down 1.8 percent)


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Put in perspective, life expectancy at age 65 has increased more in the last

30 years than the entire 200-year period from 1750 to 1950. Today, a

person age 65 can expect to live another 15 years. A man of 75 has a 50-50

chance of reaching 84; a woman, 86.

Increased Longevity for All

ALSO IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER—older people are not the only

beneficiaries of increased longevity. Life expectancy has increased

dramatically for those in infancy, childhood, and even early adulthood due to

improved medical breakthroughs in solving problems with birth, early infancy

disorders, and contagious diseases.

Add improvements in nutrition and sanitation, and we can see the reasons

why most children today reach adulthood and why most adults reach old

age. The bottom line:

The longer you live, the longer you're likely to live!

A Skewed Sex Ratio

It's a woman's world.

WE TEND TO IGNORE THIS FACT: Women

live longer than men — and this has

consequences!

As the world's population grows steadily

older, it also becomes predominantly more

female. In 2008 alone, an estimated 62

million more women than men lived to age 65 and over.

Today, the 2010 U.S. Census bureau splits the American population 49.2%

male and 50.8% female. As their share of the population increases with age,

women characteristically comprise the majority of the older population in the

majority of countries throughout the world.

The ratio changes.

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The sex ratio (the number of men per 100 women) also changes over the

human life span. Surprisingly, 105 male births occur for every 100 female

births. As time passes, the number of males continues to exceed females

until the third decade (20-29). From that age on, women increasingly

outnumber men.

For every 100 females In the 65-74 age group, we find only 86 males. Their

number continues to drops to 72 in the 75-84 age group. For the old-old

groups (85 and older) the sex ratio becomes even more pronounced

expanding to an astounding 49 men for every 100 women.

But the gap in mortality between men and women that occurs in the older

ages continues to narrow. The 2010 Census reports there were

approximately twice as many women as men at age 89. This point occurs about 4 years older than it did in 2000, and six years older than it did in

1990, evidence of the narrowing gap .

Still, the higher mortality rates for men, beginning at birth and continuing

throughout the life course, result in increasingly fewer men than women

tallied within each of the elderly sub-populations.

The implications are self evident...

Desiging for an aging population means designing for a gender

imbalance of older females.

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://transgenerational.org/aging/bio.htmhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdfhttp://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf


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Race and Ethnici ty

One would expect to find older people to be

similarly distributed among racial/ethnic sub-

populations. But this is not the case.

The older population is becoming

increasingly more racially and ethnically diverse as the overall minority population

grows and experiences increased longevity.

ONE IN FIVE AMERICANS ARE OF MINORITY RACE AND/OR

ETHNICITY

They break down like this:

Hispanics

America's largest and fastest growing minority population is

Hispanic, making up 15% of the total U.S. population. With a

life expectancy of nearly 81 years, they outlive whites by 2.5

years and blacks by almost eight years. By 2019 they will be

the largest racial/ethnic minority in this age group.

The population of older Hispanics was 2.7 million in 2008—or

6.8 percent of the populaton. Their number is projected to swell

to over 17 million by 2050 and account for 19.8 percent of

America's older population.

Black or African American

In 2008, 3.2 million Blacks or African Americans accounted for

8.3 percent of the older population. Their number is projected

to grow to over 9.9 million and reach 11 percent by 2050.

Asian, Hawai ian & Pacif ic Islanders

In 2008, this segment contained over 1.3 million people,

accounting for 3.4 percent of Americns aged 65 and older. By

2050, their number is projected to reach over 7.6 million,

accounting for 8.6 percent of the older population.

American Indian and Native Alaskan

The American Indian and Native Alaskin older population was

212,605 in 2007 and accounted for 0.6 percent of the older

population.Their number is projected to grow to almost 918,000

by 2050.

OUR MIXED HERITAGE

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An additional 156,794 persons 65 and older

consider themselves to be American Indians

or Alaska Natives along with another race

category. Thus, a total of 369,399 persons

65 and older report having Amerian Indian or

Alaska Native heritage. By 2050 they will

account for 1.0 percent of the U.S.

population.

The country's population distribution by sub-group shows a disparity in life

expectancy caused by:

varying birth rates

socio-economic factors

immigration rates

inaccuracies due to enumeration problems of the census itself

In the next several decades, the percentages should change, resulting in a decrease in the white majority and proportionate increases in the

percentages of minority elderly.

Transgenerational homes and products can help maintain those

active lifestyles, activities and independence. They help you

accommodate—and attract—their swelling purchasing power.

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