HOW OLD IS OLD?

 

Many people ask, “when do I count as being old?.”  Defining “old age” is like chasing a moving a target. Today, with increased life expectancy, many people are unsure of how old is old. However, people transition through life stages in a characteristic way, so in most western countries, you would be considered an elderly person at the age of 65 to 70. (At What Point Is Someone Considered Elderly? April 21, 2021Copyright © 2022Home Care in Phoenix by Devoted Guardians)   

 

This is the age when most people retire and start receiving some form of pension. A person is typically considered elderly when they reach an advanced stage of life past middle age.

 

In most cultures, people aged over 70 or 75 years are considered elderly. However, it is very important to remember that aging is not a disability, and that there are many healthy, active, and independent people in this age group who would be very offended to be treated that way.

 

Most of us have heard the comment “you are only as old as you feel.”  There is some validity to this statement. There are several variables which can impact how old you feel, or how others see you. Physical, mental, social, cultural, ethnic, and financial considerations are just some of the factors which explain the diversity in older age.  The relationship we have with our environments is skewed by personal characteristics such as the family we were born into, our sex and our ethnicity, leading to inequalities in health.

 

There is no typical older person. Some 80-year-olds have physical and mental capacities similar to many 30- year-olds. Other people experience significant declines in capacities at much younger ages. Future plans for this demographic shift will need to address a very wide range of older people’s experiences and needs. (WHOhttps://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health  Ageing and health   4 October 2021)

 

HOW DOES THE INCREASE IN LIFE EXPECTANCY IMPACT POPULATION STATISTICS?

 

Whatever the definition of “older adult”, there is no arguing the fact that people are living longer.

 

• 10,000 people are turning 65 a day

• 80 percent of people age 50 and older plan to work past 65

• People over 50 in the US contribute $7.6 trillion to the economy annually

• By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. At this time the share of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from 1 billion in 2020 to 1.4 billion

• Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%.

• By 2050, there will be an estimated 85.7 million Americans ages 65 or older, up from 54 million in 2019.  The world’s population of people aged 60 years and over is going to double! Copyright ©2021 United Health Foundation SENIOR REPORT www.AmericasHealthRankings.org

• By 2020, the number of people aged 60 years and older outnumbered children younger than 5 years.

• In 2050, 80% of older people will be living in low- and middle-income countries.

• The number of persons aged 80 years or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050 to reach 426 million.  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health

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WHAT ABOUT THOSE BABY BOOMERS?

 

The baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) deserve a special mention here.  Responsible for the unprecedented growth of the population in America, they have brought some of the greatest challenges and opportunities to the economy, infrastructure and institutions.  Population Reference Bureauʼs Population Bulletin, “Aging in the United States,” examines recent trends and disparities among adults ages 65 and older, and how baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 are reshaping Americaʼs older population. https://www.prb.org/resources/fact-sheet-aging-in-the-united-states/  Here are some of the main findings:

 

On a positive note:

• Education levels are increasing. Among people ages 65 and older in 1965, only 5 percent had completed a bachelorʼs degree or more. By 2018, this share had risen to 29 percent. 

• Average U.S. life expectancy increased from 68 years in 1950 to 78.6 years in 2017, in large part due to the reduction in mortality at older ages.

• The gender gap in life expectancy is narrowing. In 1990, a seven-year gap in life expectancy existed between men and women. By 2017, this gap had narrowed to five years (76.1 years versus 81.1 years).

• The poverty rate for Americans ages 65 and older has dropped sharply during the past 50 years, from nearly 30 percent in 1966 to 9 percent today. 7

On a more challenging note:

• Obesity rates among adults ages 60 and older have been increasing, standing at about 41 percent in 2015-2016. 

• Wide economic disparities are evident across dierent population subgroups. Among adults ages 65 and older, 17 percent of Latinos and 19 percent of African Americans lived in poverty in 2017—more than twice the rate among older non-Hispanic whites (7 percent). 

• More older adults are divorced compared with previous generations. The share of divorced women ages 65 and older increased from 3 percent in 1980 to 14 percent in 2018, and for men from 4 percent to 11 percent during the same period. 1

• Over one-fourth (26 percent) of women ages 65 to 74 lived alone in 2018. This share jumped to 39 percent among women ages 75 to 84, and to 55 percent among women ages 85 and older.

• The aging of the baby boom generation could fuel more than a 50 percent increase in the number of Americans ages 65 and older requiring nursing home care, to about 1.9 million in 2030 from 1.2 million in 2017.

• Demand for elder care will also be driven by a steep rise in the number of Americans living with Alzheimerʼs disease, which could more than double by 2050 to 13.8 million, from 5.8 million today.

• The large share of older adults also means that Social Security and Medicare expenditures will increase from a combined 8.7 percent of gross domestic product today to 11.8 percent by 2050.