From 2000 to 2010, the nation’s over-65 population grew at a faster rate than the overall population, according to data released by the Census Bureau on Nov. 30.
The numbers have implications for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as the physicians who will be serving an increasingly aging population.
The over-65 group grew 15%, to 40 million, while the nation’s overall population grew about 10% to 308 million. In all, 13% of Americans are over age 65; that is the highest proportion of seniors since 1900, Census Bureau Statistician Carrie Werner said during a press briefing.
The Census reported that there are 1.3 million people over age 65 (3% of that age group) who lived in skilled-nursing facilities in 2010.
There has also been a big increase in the number of Americans in the older age groups, in particular for those over age 85. There was a 30% increase in the number of 85- to 94-year-olds from 2000 to 2010. For those aged 95 or older, there was a 26% increase over the last decade. There are now an estimated 5.1 million Americans over age 85 and 400,000 over age 95.
And there are more than 50,000 Americans who are older than 100.
There was a slight decline in the number of Americans aged 75 to 79, mostly because there were fewer births during the early 1930s.
Although women still edge out men in terms of longevity, more men are living longer, Ms. Werner said. There was a 20% increase in the number of men over age 65, to 17.4 million. By contrast, there were about 23 million women over age 65 in 2010, which represented an 11% increase from 2000.
For every 10-year age group, the percentage growth in the number of men outstrips that for women.
While the Census Bureau does not analyze underlying reasons for the population shifts, Ms. Werner said that it appears to reflect data that shows that men have had improving life expectancy.
In terms of absolute numbers, the South and the Midwest have more elderly than any other region. But the Northeast has the greatest percentage of over-65 residents, at 14%. The Midwest and the South each have about 13% of their population as over 65. The Northeast and Midwest have the largest proportions of over-85 residents.
The states with the largest numbers of people over 65 are also the five most-populous states: California, Florida, New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania. But when it comes to proportion of elderly residents, the top five shift: Florida, West Virginia, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Iowa.
But the data shows that, increasingly, Americans over 65, and 85, are moving to the South and West. Three of the top five counties with percentage of residents over age 65 are in Florida. The Great Plains states and the Rocky Mountain states also have large percentages of residents over age 65.
The main areas of growth in the senior population are in the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Rocky Mountain states, said Ms. Werner. There was also notable growth in Texas, Georgia, Alaska, and Virginia, she said.
The Census Bureau data did not break out the data according to race or ethnicity, said Ms. Werner.