Fact Sheet: Aging in the United States
The report “Aging in the United States” by the United States Population Reference Bureau examines recent trends and disparities among adults aged 65 and older in the United States. Baby boomers are reshaping America’s older population; the baby boom generation is expected to be between the ages of 55 and 73 in 2019.
Demographic Shifts
By 2060, the number of Americans aged 65 and up is expected to nearly double, from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million, as older people work longer and become more ethnically and racially diverse. Many parts of the country are aging in place as young people migrate elsewhere.
Positive Developments
The average life expectancy in the United States has increased from 68 years in 1950 to 78.6 years in 2017. The poverty rate among Americans 65 and older has decreased dramatically. In 1990, there was a seven-year gap in life expectancy between men and women; by 2017, the gap had narrowed to five years.
Challenges
Obesity rates among adults aged 60 and up have been rising, and the percentage of divorced women aged 65 and up has risen from 3% in 1980 to 14% in 2018. Demand for elder care will also be fueled by an increase in the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease.
What is the U.S. average percentage of people 85 years old and older?
Since 1900, the percentage of Americans aged 65 and older has more than tripled (from 4.1% in 1900 to 16% in 2018), and the number has increased more than 16 times (from 3.1 million to 52.4 million), indicating that the older population is getting older.
What percent of US population is over 55?
POPULATION CHANGES Currently, just over 34% of the US population is 50 or older, and their numbers are rapidly increasing as the baby-boom generation ages.
Where do older adults live?
The majority of older adults (93.5 percent, or 33.4 million) live in the community, with only 4.5 percent (about 1.5 million) living in nursing homes and 2 percent (1 million) in assisted living facilities.
Which group has the highest income in old age?
Asians have the highest median family income, followed by whites, Hispanics, and blacks. NOTE: Family income for people 65 and up is higher than income for people 65 and up because it includes income from all family members, not just a spouse.
At what age are you considered elderly?
According to the Social Security Administration, 9 out of 10 people over the age of 65 are eligible for Social Security benefits, and 65 is the legal age at which U.S. citizens are considered seniors.
What percent of US population dies before age 65?
Since 1900, life expectancy has increased by more than 50%, from a little less than fifty years to around seventy-five years in the United States.
What is the largest age group in the US?
In 2021, the estimated population of the United States was 329.48 million, with adults aged 25 to 29 accounting for the largest age group, with 11.88 million males and around 11.36 million females.
What percentage of the US population is over 75?
The share of the older population aged 75 to 84 was around 14.3 million, or 29 percent (Table 1), more than double the number and proportion (6.3 million, or 13 percent) of those aged 85 and up.
What percentage of the US population lives to be 90?
People 90 and older now make up 4.7 percent of the older population (age 65 and older), compared to only 2.8 percent in 1980, and this percentage is expected to rise to 10% by 2050.
How rare is it to live to 100?
As a result, only 0.0173% of Americans today live to be 100, and while some families have a disproportionate number of people who live to be 100, living to be 100 remains a rare occurrence in the general population, as reported in the article Long Life Runs in Families.
How many adults in the US are over 2020?
The US Census Bureau estimated that 331.4 million people lived in the country in 2020; more than three-quarters (77.9%), or 258.3 million, were adults aged 18 and up, up 10.1% from 234.6 million in 2010.
What percent of the US population is over 60?
In the United States, 22% of the population is 60 or older.