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A Profile of Older Americans: 2011
The Older Population
The older population--persons 65 years or older--numbered 40.4 million in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available). They represented 13.1% of the U.S. population, over one in every eight Americans. The number of older Americans increased by 5.4 million or 15.3% since 2000, compared to an increase of 8.7% for the under-65 population. However, the number of Americans aged 45-64 – who will reach 65 over the next two decades – increased by 31% during this period.
In 2010, there were 23.0 million older women and 17.5 million older men, or a sex ratio of 132 women for every 100 men. The female to male sex ratio increases with age, ranging from 112 for the 65-69 age group to a high of 206 for persons 85 and over.
Since 1900, the percentage of Americans 65+ has more than tripled (from 4.1% in 1900 to 13.1% in 2010), and the number has increased almost thirteen times (from 3.1 million to 40.4 million). The older population itself is increasingly older. In 2010, the 65-74 age group (20.8 million) was 10 times larger than in 1900. In contrast, the 75-84 group (13.1 million) was 17 times larger and the 85+ group (5.5 million) was 45 times larger.
In 2009, persons reaching age 65 had an average life expectancy of an additional 18.8 years (20.0 years for females and 17.3 years for males). A child born in 2009 could expect to live 78.2 years, about 30 years longer than a child born in 1900. Much of this increase occurred because of reduced death rates for children and young adults. However, the period of 1990-2007 also has seen reduced death rates for the population aged 65-84, especially for men – by 41.6% for men aged 65-74 and by 29.5% for men aged 75-84. Life expectancy at age 65 increased by only 2.5 years between 1900 and 1960, but has increased by 4.2 years from 1960 to 2007. Nonetheless, some research has raised concerns about future increases in life expectancy in the US compared to other high-income countries, primarily due to past smoking and current obesity levels, especially for women age 50 and over (National Research Council (2011)).
About 2.6 million persons celebrated their 65th birthday in 2010. In the same year, almost 1.8 million persons 65 or older died. Census estimates showed an annual net increase of 814,406 in the number of persons 65 and over.
There were 53,364 persons aged 100 or more in 2010 (0.13% of the total 65+ population).*** This is a 53% increase from the 1990 figure of 37,306.
(Data for this section were compiled primarily from Internet releases of the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics/Health Data Interactive).
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