Legal Research

Understanding Older Americans

Here's some quick hits I discovered from ResourceShelf:

Statistics: A Statistical Profile of Older Americans Aged 65+
2 pages; PDF.

and

A Statistical Profile Of Black Older Americans Aged 65+
2 pages; PDF.

Some bites:

The older population (65+) numbered 37.3 million in 2006, an increase of 3.4 million or 10% since 1996.
? The number of Americans aged 45-64 ? who will reach 65 over the next two decades ? increased by 39% during this decade.
? Since 1900, the percentage of Americans 65+ has tripled (from 4.1% in 1900 to
12.4% in 2006), and the number has increased twelve times (from 3.1 million to 37.3 million).
? The Black or African American older population was 3.1 million in 2006 and is projected to grow to over 10.4 million by 2050. In 2006, African American persons made up 8.3 percent of the older population. By 2050, the percentage of the older population that is African American is projected to account for 12 percent of the older population.

? Most older persons have at least one chronic condition and many have multiple conditions. Among the most frequently occurring conditions of elderly in 2004-2005 were:
? hypertension (48%),
? diagnosed arthritis (47%),
? all types of heart disease (29%),
? any cancer (20%),
? diabetes (16%), and
? sinusitis (14%)

I wonder how these chronic conditions map to health reference questions and collections? I have almost half myself!

Anyway, since these are only two pages each they're easily posted on a bulletin board, e-mailed or printed and distributed to all staff as a backgrounder or brown bag lunch session.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on February 21, 2008 (boomark / email).