In the era of globalization, with the advent of new medicines have revolutionized the modern day health care. Such advancements in medicine field have enabled our older adults to live longer. The discussion of whether the growth of the population of the old people has impact in our future or not is a debatable topic, with each side has its logical argument. This essay will further elucidate how the growth of elderly demography has impacted our society at large.
At the outset, taking the example of a country of Japan.In Japan, 40 percent of the total population are old. This massive number of non-working, retired seniors, have put tremendous pressure on the existing resources of Japan. Nowadays, the import bill of Japan has surged enormously
Back in twentieth century, a tiny fragment of mere 5% population was comprised of people aged 65 and above. A little spike in this segment was observed during the period of 1950s-1960s; however, that spike was not significant and restricted to 8% of entire population (Chart 1.1). Many factors were responsible for the small proportion of senior population, the most prominent one though, low life expectancy, high fertility/birth rates and limitation of health services.
The rapid growth in the number of seniors in America and around the world is creating a global demographic revolution without precedent. During this century, advances in hygiene and water supply and control of infectious diseases have reduced the risk of premature death much. As a result, the proportion of population over 60 years in the world is growing faster than in any previous era. In 1950 there were approximately 200 million people aged over 60 worldwide. By 2000 there will be over 550 million, and by 2025, the number of people over 60 is expected to reach 1,200 million.
Mrs. Audine Blue is my client for this “Elderly Adult Survey.” Interviewing this lovely lady was delightful as she revealed her birthday of August 15, 1933 and is 84 years young. The lovely Mother Blue originally from North Carolina was afforded to live for a while in California, as well as, in New York before returning to North Carolina. Married to Mr. Henry Shelton Blue at very young age, they have one daughter, one grandchild, and one great grandchild. Asking about her parents, Mother Audine became sad considering they died while she was young. The cause of their death was hard work and cruel treatment that Mother Audine had to witness as a child. However, she recalled how they put their trust in God and
Statistics show that there has been an increase in a number of elderly people as par the census over time. NCEA (n.d.) projects that the elderly population is to continue increasing in 2050 up to a value above 20% of the total population. The increment has been realized straight from 1990’s and the graph has continued with the upward trend.
To put into perspective who this aging population is and how they came to be reference is made to a generation called the baby boomers. These are individuals born between 1946 and 1964. They are called baby boomers because of the number of children born after World War II. It is estimated that the peak year for births in the United States was 1957 when over 50 million babies were born ( Aboukhadijeh, F, 2017 ). The prior generation was during the great depression in the United States and the age that came after still never rivaled the baby boomer generation. Statistical information sheds some light on how this age flourished compared to previous ones. The life expectancy rates had increased due to better medications, and the eradication of
The aging of the population will have wide-ranging implications for the country (Ortman, Velkoff, & Hogan, 2014). By “aging,” demographers often mean that the proportion of the population in the older ages increases. As the United States ages over the next several decades, its older population will become more racially and ethnically diverse. The projected growth of the older population in the United States will present challenges to policy makers and programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. It will also affect families, businesses, and health care providers.
The opinion brings to the forefront statistical data from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging and US Census Bureau, information on how the nation’s population is exceedingly growing older. The article also highlights a comparison of how the oldest (85 and older), has exploded (10x) from the 1950’s to the staggering number of over 6M today.
In order to understand how the aging population impacts health care, why the older population is expanding needs to be established. In the year 2011, the “baby boomer” generation began to have their 65th birthdays. The other side of the older population is that technology is improving dramatically,
Many believe that the aging population is a big crisis. Aging population does put pressure on the government limiting financial resources particularly in the healthcare system. Half of the healthcare system is used by seniors and it is expected to grow. (In-text citation)
Today, one of the fastest growing segments of the population is the elderly. Due to healthcare advancements to increase longevity, 70 million American citizens will be considered elderly by 2030! This is all possible due to the research done by the medical community, although the NBAC (National Bioethics Advisory Commision) does not recognize the elderly as a vulnerable population. In fact, the agency does state that vulnerability can be context-specific, if a population may be at risk due to age, health, functional status, chronic, or terminal illness. Which, are some of the reasons that describe the elderly population. This can lead to an imbalance of subject at researcher when the elderly are not considered a vulnerable population. Also,
This is an observational, cross-sectional, analytical and population-based study, conducted with elderly people registered in one of the FHS that cover the urban area of the city of Ijuí, RS, Brazil. The study was aimed at classifying the elderly population according to the levels of fragility, analyzing the relationship of social support with sociodemographic characteristics and levels of fragility of elderly people and evaluating the presence and extent of the Primary Health Care attributes from the perspective of elderly people. Data were collected by means of in-home interviews using a questionnaire containing sociodemographic variables, evaluation of social support, evaluation of fragility and evaluation of the Primary Care. The study
In the United States, the overall population is getting older with many Americans living into their 70s, 80s, and beyond. The nation is now and will be confronted with the challenge of preparing to meet the financial demands of a continually aging population. The proportion of the population aged 65 years and older is expected to increase from 12.4% in 2000 to 19.6% in 2030; this is an increase to about 72 million. The number of persons aged 80 years and older is expected to increase from 9.3 million in 2000 to 19.5 million in 2030. Also by 2030, older adults will account for roughly 20% of the U.S. population. By 2050, it is anticipated that Americans aged 65 or older will increase to nearly 89 million people; more than double the number of older adults in the United States in 2010 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2011; Chapman et al, 2006). There are a couple of explanations for the rapid increase in the aging of the U.S. population: one is that Americans are living longer than those in previous decades and, there are proportionately more older adults than in previous generations do to the Baby Boom phenomenon. The “Baby-Boom” generation, the oldest of whom have passed 65 years old, is already beginning to retire. This issue is a cause for great alarm among public health professionals because of the increasing medical costs and financial burden it will place on current and future generations (Chapman et al, 2006). Improvements in healthcare have
As people get older they experience a drastic change since they are not able to live the same lifestyle they had when they were younger. There had been many negative outcomes that come with aging, but the one problem most elders face and that should be addressed is loneliness and depression. The program I have designed to solve this social problem, “Elders and Pets.” aims to assist the elder population that live by themselves, by providing them a rescued pet. The hypothesis for the program is that if we provide a pet to an elder that lives in isolation, they will feel less lonely; they will reduce depression symptoms and will become happier. A research was done in order to find the levels of sadness elders face each day. In the United States
From 1970 to the year 2000, the world's over-60 population is projected to increase by more than 90 percent" . This is an astonishing number, seeming how the total population was predicted to grow by less than 75 percent . "The most prominent feature of the looming shift in the composition of the working-age population is, of course, its increasing age" . It is hard to say what will happen when suddenly there will be an abundance of older people who are preparing to retire.
The aging population is indeed a trend that is important to the planning, financing, and delivery of healthcare today. The aging population is on the rise so they will demand more care from the younger generation to deliver the proper care when it comes to healthcare. There are 31.86 million people over the age of 65 who live in Japan ( KYODO ). Leaving the remaining number to be among the younger generation is almost forced to have to attend to the aging population because if they do not look after them who will?