Factors And Causes Of Population Ageing In The United States

In America, people are changing their views on aging and the elderly. Some of the reasons that the attitudes are changing could be due to more elderly people are remaining in the work place longer, as opposed to retiring early. Riffkin (2014). And there is the fact that we baby boomers are living longer. Even though the U.S. only ranks 53rd with a life expectancy of 79. That’s an increase of one year since 2010. (“The World: Life Expectancy” 2016)

Jacobsen, Kent, Lee, & Mather (2011) stated, “Since women live longer than men in the United States, women will continue to make up a majority of the older population in the foreseeable future” (pg. 3). Whereas, this age distribution among men and women are expected to remain approximately the same between 2009 and 2030, there will be notable changes in the age and gender gap by 2050 as the gap grows smaller (Jacobsen, Kent, Lee, & Mather, 2011). Furthermore, according to Vincent & Velkoff (2010), by the year 2042 the United States will become more racially and ethnically diverse with the combined minority population expected to become the majority. Thus, as people in the United States age over the next several decades, the older population will also become a more racially and ethnically diverse group. In addition, the overall age structure of the population is expected to change a great deal over the next four decades (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). This will pose even more challenges to policy makers and programs designed to help the elderly like Medicare and Social Security. Therefore, being able to project the size and structure of the older population, in regards to age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin is not only important to public interest, but also private both socially and economically (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010).

Like longevity trends, racial trends among the elderly are an important aspect when looking at demographics of the aging population. The growing aging population is also changing in composition. The aging populace is moving to be a more racially and ethnically diverse population than previous aging populations (Ortman & Velkoff, 2014). In 2010, non-Hispanic whites made up 80% of adults aged 65 years or older, by 2030 that percent will decrease to 71.2% of the population 65 and older. It is predicted that by 2050 non-Hispanic whites will make up fewer than 60% of the

Between 2000 and 2050, the number of ageing population will increase by 135% During this time period, the proportion of the population that is over the age of 65 will increase from 12.7% in

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.

Aging Americans, like other age groups, are feeling the effects of the declining real estate and stock markets, as well as soaring fuel and food prices. Seniors’ economic security will only increase in importance as the U.S. population ages. The nation’s health and social services resources will face unprecedented demand as 75 million people in the baby boomer generation reach retirement age—some with eroded savings and retirement accounts. Aging people of color are more likely than white

In Chapter 15: Aging and the Elderly, the U.S. birth rate has been falling for more than a century. It happens because children are more likely to survive into adulthood, and so couple have fewer children. As more women work outside the home, they choose to have fewer children. Greater material wealth and advances in medicine have raised living standards so that people benefit from better housing and more nutrition. The oldest segment of the U.S. population, is increasing rapidly and is already forty times greater than in 1900.

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 population is one the most rapidly increasing issue across the nation today. According to demographic data, it has been gradually developing over the last two hundred years. It has become a factor in many countries. The aging population is a result of declining humanity, longevity, and decreasing fertility with fewer young people. As the population ages there will be a major strain on the budget of the government, because more health care service are being used by people of sixty-five than

There are 17% of older adults still in the labor force, while 36% of older adults have a disability. 28% of the US populations are older adults living on their own and 79% of the U.S. population are older adults that own their own homes. The older adult population in the United States has significantly increased over the last several years and will continue to increase. There are more older adults than older men. In 2005 the older adult population as a whole was at 36.6 million and the most recent statistics in 2015 shows that the older adult population was at 47.8 million. The number of older adults could increase to 98 million by 2060. The average age of the older adults has greatly increased since the 1900s. In 2015 22% of the older adult population were of racial or ethnic minority. According to the most recent data taken (2015), if someone was born in 2015, they could expect to live around 30 years longer than someone who was born in the 1900s. Why is this? The number of death rates for both children and adults has seen a great reduction. There were also a lower number of babies born in the 1900s due to the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The author argues that the aging of the US population will bring about some economic changes. She points out that a combination of increased labour and a lower consumption rate will be required. However, she notes that these changes can have significant consequences on economic variables such as the rate of return on capital and wages. The aging of the population is likely to be as associated with a reduction in wages and increased returns on capital if adjustments to capital are slow. This will arise if budget deficits are allowed increase with the aging of the population. The author uses the consumption possibilities frontier to illustrate the determinants as well as the magnitude of changes resulting from the aging population. The consumption possibilities frontier illustrates the level of consumption that can be maintained for a given amount of capital per worker. It follows that the consumption per worker must be equal to the output per worker minus the resources required to maintain the capital ratio.

Over the years, there have been major shifts within the United States in regards to its population. Statisticians have estimated that 20% of the population will be 65 years of age and older. There is an even

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 world’s population is ageing rapidly. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world's older adults is estimated to double from about 11% to 22%. In absolute terms, this is an expected increase from 605 million to 2 billion people over the age of 60.

A drop in net immigration to the United States is a key factor that has contributed to the aging of the US population. According to the U.S. census Bureau, “there have been a drop in immigration levels in the United States”, which, mean that a smaller share of U.S. population growth can directly attribute to immigration similar to natural increase these can also be related to jobs losses that are normally filled by immigrants such as construction jobs, and manufacturing jobs. Declining fertility rates are also a key factor in the United States. “In the past the 18 and under have exceeded the 65 and older, but now have declined by 190,000 per the Census Bureau in 2010 and 2011 while the elderly have increased by 917,000. Working-age adults, and those in childbearing ages, is also down”. There is also a decline in fertility rates as well, they estimated 4 billion birth between 2010 and 2011 which is down from the 4.2 that was between 2005 and 2006.