A recent report issued jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Institute on Aging provides detailed insights into the aging of America’s population. It is widely understood, for instance, that population growth is faster among the elderly than any other age group. What may surprise is that the “oldest old” (those over age 85) continue to increase at a faster rate than any other segment of the population. That and other nuggets of information from the new report outline the phenomenon of American aging as of the 2000 census.

Most casual observers, for instance, would likely guess that Arizona probably has a higher proportion of seniors than most other states. In fact Arizona ranks twenty-second in percentage of population over age 65, at 13% in that group. Although only 1.3% of Arizonans are over age 85, that marks an increase from 1.0% in that age group a decade earlier.

In general, the western states have a lower proportion of their elderly citizens either living alone (25% or less in much of the region) or in a nursing home (2.7% of those over age 65, and 11.8% of those over age 85) than the rest of the country. The highest concentration of nursing home residents (over 6% of those over 65) tended to be in the upper midwestern states.

It will come as no surprise to learn that women make up a larger share of nursing home residents than men. It may be somewhat surprising, however, to learn that the men in the nursing home tend to be significantly younger than their female counterparts. For example, 56.1% of female nursing home residents were 85 or older, while only 38.2% of male residents were in that age group. Encouragingly, however, the rate of nursing home placement fell for every age group between 1990 and 2000. For example, the percentage of those aged 65 to 74 residing in nursing homes fell from 1.4% in 1990 to 1.1% in 2000; among those over age 85 the comparable proportions dropped from 24.5% to 18.2%.

Some of that improvement may be a result of the fact that today’s elderly population is both healthier and wealthier than their predecessors. For example, life expectancy at age 65 has increased from the 1990 figures of 15.1 years among men and 18.9 years among women to 16.3 and 19.2 years, respectively, in 2000 (though that still falls two or more years short of the figures for Japanese, Singaporean and Australian seniors, to name a few). Meanwhile, the percentage of the elderly in the workforce has fallen steadily and dramatically for half a century, while the median household income has nearly doubled (as adjusted for inflation), to about $24,000 per household.

The entire 250-page report is available at the Census Bureau website, and it includes innumerable graphs and charts (including a fascinating set of appendices comparing U.S. statistics to those of other countries). It makes fascinating reading—and provides endless thought-provoking material—for those of us involved in elder issues.

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