The Aging Population Analysis

The population in the United States has more than tripled in the last century from 76 million in 1900 to 281 million in 2000 (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). This can be contributed to several trends in population demographics. The most obvious reason is that there are more births than deaths in the U.S (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Also, the average American is getting older due to increased longevity. In simple terms, people are living longer. One reason is medical advances have increased in recent years coupled with the fact that Americans are taking their health more serious. The population of age 65 and older has increase from 3.1 million in 1900 to 35 million in 2000, with the 85 and older population increasing from 122,000 to 4.2 million (Hobbs

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 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.

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 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.

102). “Reaching old age means living with less income” or that’s what it used to mean. In the United States elderly has had a 45% increase in income leading them to not only having less elders be poor but having greater gains than young adults (Macionis, 2014, pg. 104). One of the main reason as to why the elderly population has grown massively over the last few years and will continue to grow is primarily because of the “baby boomers.” With these Baby Boomers getting close to the age cap of becoming an elder the populations’ growth will increase the problem of Ageism.

By 2030 the life expectancy is estimated to be 82.3 years of age, which means more people will enjoy a longer, healthier, and active lifestyle than ever before. The Baby Boomer generation will be the trailblazers that change the attitudes towards aging by remaining productive citizens in their communities and showing the younger generation that growing older does not mean that they are giving up the joys of living. In fact, many older adults will start enjoying life by having the time to do things that they were never able to do because of work and family responsibilities. Healthy seniors who are fortunate enough to be sufficiently prepared for their retirement are able to travel, spend time with family, go back to school, learn a new hobby, and much more.

As the public health, nutrition and medicine in health care continues to positively advance, the United States will encounter an increase in overall life expectancy of the population. A rapid demographic shift will continue to move toward people known as “baby boomers” who will aid in the continuous increase in senior citizens. The number of adults specifically over the age of sixty five years have an expected growth from forty million in the year 2010 to a substantial increase of eighty four million by the year 2050 (Aging, 2014). Knowing the predictions of the massive amount of elderly in the population, the social and economic aspects in society will dramatically change. The rate of chronic conditions among the senior citizens in 2008

In Rethinking Age and Aging, by Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov, the concept of life-expectancy changing the meaning of age is explored in great detail. As quality of life and life expectancy improve, the ability of people to maintain certain lifestyles for longer grows. This ability is changing how society manages questions of age, with regards to social policy and age-specific benefits.

Generally, social work is acclaimed as related to working with younger populations and handling abuse or neglect in the home. In television shows, you often see social workers entering the homes of children who experience abuse and removing them from the situation. While this can be part of the job description, social work is a diversified field with many career opportunities. Social workers specialize in a range of different areas based on client age and individual need. The social worker’s ethical job responsibilities are outlined in NASW’s Code of Ethics (1999). This paper will review these responsibilities in relation to aging populations and then focus directly on the social workers practice with aging

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.

“To a large extent, current research and development and government policies have helped to ease the aging process.” Discuss this statement in relation to your particular field of study or interest (e.g. economics, science, medicine, social policy, architecture, psychology, technological inventions).

In the present days, the world is experiencing the transition in its population, the total number of people aged 65 and more has gradually become larger. This transition is called population aging. Population aging refers to a trend that the proportion of people aged 65 and more is expanding in an area. Population aging can be measured by the ratio between the total number of people who are 65 years old and older than 65-year-old and the total population in a certain district. In the United States, the situation of population aging is more severe than that in the past. The decrease in both mortality and fertility and the advanced medical technology that helps in expanding human’s life expectancy can be main reasons for this

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.

In the contemporary world, the economic problem of population ageing caused is revealing gradually. UNESCO provides a standard that a single country or region in the population over 60 years is more than 10% of the total population, which is into the aging of the population. Both of developed and developing countries in recent years have to face more serious aging impacts for economic progress. According to population prospects (2009), the whole world will accelerate the pace of ageing after 2010. More precisely, share of elderly people is 22% in rich countries and 8% in poorer countries, whereas these figures will rise to 33% and 20%, respectively. Why does aging become a problem? The U.S. Census study points out that the worldwide ageing