expectancy is the average length of time persons, defined by age, sex, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status in a given society, are expected to live. The older population is the most rapidly increasing segment of the U.S. population. Since 1900 the number of older adults has increased over ten times and their percentage of the population has more than tripled. This increase is projected to continue at a rate of 1.3 percent annually until 2010. (Torrez, p.132)
The number of ethnic minority elderly