Older Adult Population Essay

We all will one day face the reality of growing older. There are many aspects of this change that will affect us in a large way. According to the Merck Manual of Health and Aging, 1.5% of Americans are 85 or older. This research states that the number of people 100 years or older could rise from 1 out of 5,578 in the year 2000, to 1 out of 472 in the year 2050. It brings out that women have a longer life expectancy than men, among people aged 65 and older in the year 2000, there were 70 men for every 100 women. For people aged 85 and older the figure was 41 men for every 100 women. The site goes on to say that approximately 11% of Americans aged 65 and older are below the poverty line. (The Merck Manual of Health and Aging:

The amount of people reaching late adult hood in large quantities is not unique to the U.S. As the Peterson (2002) article states, a combination of a rise in the longevity of people, and the fall in birth rate has other countries seeing a large percentage of their population fall into the “elderly” category. The article recalls that Japan was once the “youngest society in the developed world. Within five years, it will be the oldest.” (Peterson, p. 197). Now, the U.S. is considered the youngest society, and is in one of the best situations to maintain that title while also providing for their old. With older retirement ages, in addition to social security and social benefits, people in late adulthood are better taken care of than in other developed countries (Peterson,

By 2020, approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 years or older and employers have yet to come to grips with this fact. The aging population will affect the workforce through retirement and those continuing to work. Medicare and Social Security are very likely to undergo profound changes. Some who reach the age of 65 will not be able to retire due to the fact that they require outside income. Retired or not, the aging population will contribute heavily to the consumer market. Their demand for leisure-time pursuits and professional services will fuel local labor markets. This boom in the service sector may replace many low-skilled or unskilled jobs. The aging of the population will be far more dramatic that ethnic

Data from the Census Bureau tell us that in 2015, there are around 47.8 million Americans age 65 and older, up from about 25.5 million just 35 years ago; demographers predict that in another 35 years, there will be nearly 88 million Americans in this age group. The rate of growth of the “oldest old” population—those age 85 and older—is even more dramatic: Their numbers currently stand at approximately 6.3 million, but by 2050, that number will have almost tripled, to 18.7 million Americans. This population explosion is unprecedented in history, and the resulting demographic shift is causing profound social and economic changes.

Back in 1996, when the article was written the predictions were that by 2025 the proportion of the elderly would be one in five. (Peterson, 2015) While in the past 20 years the proportion of adults over the age 65 climbed from 13 to 19 percent over the overall population, the population ages 20 to 64 has been steadily falling

The fact that the American population is aging has raised concerns. In 2011, the number of adults over the age of 65 reached 41.4 million, which account for 13.3% of the population ("A Profile of Older Americans: 2012," 2012). It is estimated that there will be about 71 million older adults by 2030 ("Healthy Aging-Improving and Extending Quality of Life among Older Americans," 2009). Approximately 2.1 million elderly are currently living in

Committee on Aging, United States Senate, 101st Cong. (1990). (Serial No. 101-J). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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.

doctor, then what are they to do? They can not just sit at home and

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)

The truth is that the baby boomer population makes up a large portion of the population in the U. S. (Martin, 2014). Baby Boomers who are also referred to as the Graying of America are individuals who were born between 1946 to 1964, which makes up about 29 percent or 76 million in the U. S. population (Martin, 2014). It has been found that most baby boomers or about one-third of Americans do not contribute anything at all to retirement savings nor pension plan (Tang et al., 2013). In terms of longevity, the U. S. Census Bureau projects that individuals ages 85 and older are expected to grow to approximately 20 million by the year 2050 (Martin, 2014). According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of persons aged 65 and older has increased by 101% between 1977 and 2007, the number of employed men that are 65 or older has increased by 75% and 147% for women (Tang et al., 2013).

The recent growth in the number of older adults in the United States is unusual in the history of America. The anticipation of the elderly population (65+) by the year 2050 will be almost 89million people, or greater than the population of the elderly in the year 2010 (CDC 2013).

One of the greatest challenges of the twenty first century will be the tremendous increase in the number of older adults throughout the world. Elderly people are the most rapidly increasing age group in Canada. In 2000 there was about 3.8 million Canadians were 65 years older. Statistics of Canada projects that by 2021, it will get doubled (Hick S., 2010, p.270). It is sure that this demographic trend will affect most part of our society, especially the health care needs and the delivery of health services. There will be a huge increase in the issues that affect the older Canadians. It is important that future health care professionals especially the social Service workers should be prepared to meet the needs of the increasing aging population across the globe. This paper examines the main problems faced by senior population in Canada, the different social work theories related to ageism and the different roles, values, knowledge and responsibilities needed for gerontological social work practice.

The process of aging begins at birth, or conception, depending on your stance, and continues throughout life. This is fact. Whatever your opinion, there is one inescapable certainty; throughout this meticulous process we call aging, comes change-- unsolicited, irrevocable, inevitable change. While many of the changes we face as we age are celebrated and embraced, not all change is desirable, and not all are pleasant. Some of the biggest changes humans experience in their lifetime occurs in late adulthood and into their senior years. It is in this period that the majority of people will start to experience sensory loss to some degree. In an attempt to understand just what it is like to get through a day with less

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.