Older adults may only comprise a small percentage of the U.S. population right now but this will likely change in the future as two new reports suggest that the population of seniors in the United States will increase by almost double a few decades from now.
Two reports from the Census Bureau released Tuesday show that the number of adults 65 years old and over in the U.S. is projected to increase from 43.1 million in 2012 to 83.7 million in 2050 and this is largely due to the advancing age of individuals born during the post-world war II baby boom from 1946 to 1964. Baby boomers began turning 65 years old in 2011 and their number is now fueling the growth of the senior population.
Census Bureau's chief of the Population Projections Branch Jennifer Ortman and Population Projections Branch demographer Sandra Colby reported in "The Baby Boom Cohort in the United States: 2012 to 2060" that the population of the U.S. will significantly age by 2050 with adults 65 years old and over comprising 20 percent of the population by 2030. In 1970, older adults comprise only 9.8 percent of the population and this just slightly increased to 13 percent in 2010.
"The U.S. population is projected to grow from 314 million in 2012 to 420 million in 2060, an increase of 34 percent. The nation will also become more racially and ethnically diverse, with the aggregate minority population projected to become the majority in 2043," Ortman and Colby wrote.
Ortman and her colleagues also said in a second report that an aging population will have an effect on the country's healthcare system as well as impact health care services providers, policy makers, businesses and families.
"The projected growth of the older population in the United States will present challenges to policy makers and programs, such as Social Security and Medicare," Ortman and colleagues wrote.
Although the American population appears to be aging, the second report actually shows that the United States has a relatively young population. By 2030, only over 20 percent of America's population is expected to be comprised of adults 65 years and older. The senior population in Japan by this period, on the other hand, is 32.2 percent and Germany, 27.9 percent.
