National Demographic Trends

Below are links to Web sites and online publications that provide in-depth examinations of the characteristics and needs of older Americans. Documents with the file size noted in parenthesis are may take a long time to load over slower internet connections, will open in a new window and require Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software to view. If you do not have this software, click the link below to download and install it.

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Aging

Why Population Aging Matters: A Global Perspective
This report discusses the impact of population aging on nations.

Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey
This second annual survey polled one hundred Americans turning 100 and older in 2007 about their practices and habits and found that, contrary to some conventional stereotypes, centenarians are staying in tune with the times.

The Aging of America
This web report from Georgia State University examines the evolution of aging in America and its impacts on mature marketing and answers the question: "now what?"

Challenges of Global Aging (163kb)
This fact sheet from the U.S. Administration on Aging explores how reductions in infant and maternal mortality, infectious and parasitic diseases, occupational safety measures, and improvements in nutrition and education are creating new challenges for communities not only in the U.S., but also around the world.

Census 2000 Special Tabulation on Aging (STA): Population and Housing Characteristics
The Special Tabulation on Aging is the most detailed source of information on the nation's older population available from Census sources. Topics covered include age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, marital status, income, poverty, disability, and much more.

MetLife Mature Market Institute
The MetLife Mature Market Institute is MetLife's information and policy resource center on issues related to aging, retirement, long-term care and the 50+ marketplace. Staffed by gerontologists, the Institute provides research, training and education, consultation and information to support MetLife, its corporate customers and business partners.

National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
This service, funded by the National Institute on Aging acquires and preserves data relevant to gerontological research, processing as needed to promote effective research use, disseminates them to researchers, and facilitates their use.

A Profile of Older Americans
The U.S. Administration on Aging provides electronic versions of its popular brochure with the latest key statistics on older Americans from 1999 to 2004 in key subject areas such as marital status, income, housing, employment, education and more.

Projections of Future Growth of the Older Population
The U.S. Administration on Aging provides data on how aging has changed over the last century and projections of where the population will be by the middle of the 21st century.

U.S. Growing Bigger, Older, and More Diverse
This report from the Population Reference Bureau provides statistical data to support that within the next few years, the U.S. population - currently estimated at 293 million - is expected to reach twice its 1950 level of 151 million.

Statistics on the Aging Population from the U.S. Administration on Aging
The U.S. Administration on Aging provides extensive information on older Americans. Topics covered include age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, marital status, income, poverty, disability, and much more.

Alzheimer's Disease

MetLife Foundation Alzheimer's Survey: What America Thinks
The survey, "MetLife Foundation Alzheimer’s Survey: What America Thinks," was designed to gauge public perception of Alzheimer's. Findings suggest there is need for more understanding of the disease and for planning.

National Vital Statistics Report (2,240kb)
The report from the National Center for Health Statistics includes data and narrative on Alzheimer's disease, including the ranking of Alzheimer's as the leading cause of death.

Appalachia

Appalachia at the Millennium: AN OVERVIEW OF RESULTS FROM CENSUS 2000 (514kb)
Data from the 2000 Census show that the Appalachian region in the U.S., while still distinct from the rest of America in many ways, contains a great deal of variety. This report, from the Population Reference Bureau shows this "duality" on a variety of social, economic, and housing measures.

Demographic and Socioeconomic Change in Appalachia (609kb)
Presented by the Population Reference Bureau, data from Census 2000 show how and why the age structure of the Appalachian population differs from the national average. These differences will have major impacts on public policy in coming years.

Behavioral Health

An Action Plan for Behavioral Health Workforce Development
This 2007 action plan discusses ways to strengthen the behavioral health workforce.

National Mental Health Information Center: Mental Health Links
U.S. Administration on Aging's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides an exhaustive list of organizations and other resources for demographics about the mental health of older adults.

Caregiving

Beyond Cash and Counseling: The Second Generation of Individual Budget-based Community Long Term Care Programs for the Elderly
This report describes ten operating individual budget model programs serving older persons, identifies four areas of program design that are of particular importance to the success of the individual budget model, and discusses how some states have addressed them.

FCA Fact Sheets & Publications
The web-based information library overseen by the Family Caregiver Alliance includes different fact sheets and publications as well as statistics and demographics on caregiving issues for families, health and service providers, program developers, and policy makers.

Crime

Key Crime & Justice Facts at a Glance
This report from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics provides an at-a-glance view of key facts about crime. Small versions of the charts and brief statements of findings are presented with links to full size charts and additional information.

Sourcebook of Justice Statistics
The online version of this guide from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States.

Disabilities

Computer and Internet Use Among People with Disabilities (61kb)
This report from the University of California Disability Statistics Center demonstrates that gaps in computer and Internet use based on disability status are just as great as those based on race and ethnicity.

Disability Statistics
This online resource, maintained by Cornell University, provides a summary of the most recent demographic and economic statistics on the working-age (ages 21-64) population with disabilities.

Disabilities Data
The U.S. Administration on Aging presents a wealth of information on the aging disability community, including age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, problems with activities of daily living, and mobility and self-care limitations.

USA Counties 1998
This service of the U.S. Census Bureau features more than 5,000 data items for the U.S., states, counties, and equivalent areas from a variety of sources. Information is presented on general topics such as age, ancestry, crime, earnings, education, health, households, housing, income, labor force, population, poverty, social programs, veterans and vital statistics.

Disability Statistics Center
This service of the University of California, San Francisco provides policy-relevant statistical information on the demographics and status of people with disabilities in American society.

Facts for Features: 12th Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act (2002)
This fact sheet from the U.S. Census Bureau provides a brief outline of population distribution, earnings, education, and specific disabilities of Americans with disabilities.

Improved Employment Opportunities For People with Disabilities (663kb)
This report from the University of California Disability Statistics Center builds on the results of two nationally representative surveys among working adults, and covers the entire decade of the 1990s.

Medicaid Home and Community-based Services
This report from the University of California at San Fancisco builds on data from federal reports, a survey, and census estimates to construct an overview of Medicaid home and community-based services, including institutional and long-term care.

Mobility Device Use in the United States
This report from the University of California Disability Statistics Center examines the use of mobility devices devices among several groups, including older adults. It provides a detailed profile of demographic characteristics and health and disability status, and also addresses the accessibility of homes and larger environments.

Transitions in Employment and Disability Among People Ages 51 to 61
The report from the University of California Disability Statistics Center uses data to analyze transitions in disability and employment from 1992 to 1994 for persons ages 51 to 61. The incidence of disability is estimated from 1992 to 1994, and the effect that developing a disability has on maintaining employment is explored against the backdrop of an economic upturn.

Economics

Uncle Sam's Reference Shelf: Statistical Abstract of the United States
This national data book from the U.S. Census Bureau contains statistics on social and economic conditions in the U.S. Selected international data are also included. The abstract is also a guide to sources of other data from the Census Bureau, other federal agencies and private organizations.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
The federal agency on employment and training provides current data, organized by geography and industry, on various economic indicators.

The White House Social Statistics Briefing Room
This service of the official federal government porta, FirstGov, provides easy access to current Federal social statistics produced by a number of Federal agencies and contains only the most recent data.

Elder Abuse

The Basics: Major Types of Elder Abuse
This resource from the National Center on Elder Abuse discusses the many types of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional or psychological, neglect, abandonment, financial or material exploitation and self-neglect.

Reporting of Elder Abuse in Domestic Settings (42kb)
The National Center on Elder Abuse examines states' requirements for reporting elder abuse and the actual sources for such reports nationwide. Their report also examines the characteristics of domestic elder abuse victims.

A Response to the Abuse of Vulnerable Adults (1,020kb)
The National Center on Elder Abuse's 2000 Survey of State Adult Protective Services quantified the prevalence of elder abuse in the U.S. This report compiles data from state adult protective services on both the elderly and younger adults with disabilities.

Trends in Elder Abuse in Domestic Settings (35.6kb)
This backgrounder from the National Center on Elder Abuse examines how reports of domestic elder abuse have changed since 1986, when the center first began collecting this data.

Types of Elder Abuse in Domestic Settings (62.8kb)
This report from the National Center on Elder Abuse examines a study of domestic elder abuse reports and identifies many different types of abuse to track trends.

General Demographics

American FactFinder
This service of the U.S. Census Bureau is the premier vehicle of dissemination for Census 2000, the American Community Survey, and the Economic Census. It contains fact sheets, interactive detailed tables, and thematic maps of census data.

The Retirement Project: A Research Focus of the Urban Institute
Researchers from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization, assess how current retirement policies, demographic trends, and private sector practices influence older Americans' security and decision-making. Numerous studies and reports provide guidance for policymakers.

USA MapStats
This service of FedStats, a gateway to statistics from more than 100 U.S. Federal agencies, provides Statistical profiles of states, counties, cities, Congressional Districts, and federal judicial districts through an easy-to-use clickable map interface.

USA Statistics in Brief
This statistical abstract supplement from the U.S. Census Bureau presents national summary data and state population estimates.

Vital Statistics of the United States
These Annual reports are provided by the National Center for Health Statistics and present detailed vital statistics data, including natality, mortality, marriage and divorce.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Census 2000 Data on the Aging: Grandparents
The Administration on Aging provides a statistical portrait of grandparents in the U.S. today, with particular attention to grandparents who serve as primary caregivers to their grandchildren.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Census Bureau Facts
The Ohio State University's Senior Series provides census-based statistics on grandparents taking care of grandchildren from the perspective of both parties.

Grandparent Responsibilities on the Rise
The Population Reference Bureau provides data that indicate grandparents in the U.S. are facing increasing responsibilities in the upbringing of their grandchildren.

Health and Well-being

2007 Health Priorities
This report highlights the results of a survey commissioned by the Trust for America’s Health to improve the national public health system.

The State of Aging and Health in America 2007
This report is designed for a variety of audiences committed to improving and preserving the health of older adults, including public health and aging professionals, policymakers, and researchers. It updates a similar report released in 2004.

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics provides historic and current datasets and a web-based tutorial taht promotes and facilitates broader and more profient use of them.

Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics
These reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide analyses of data from surveys and data collection, and are frequently followed by detailed reports published in the Vital and Health Statistics series.

CDC WONDER
The Centers of Disease Control's "Wide-ranging OnLine Data for Epidemiologic Research," or "WONDER," project is an easy-to-use, menu-driven system that makes the information resources of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention available to public health professionals and the public at large.

Health, United States
This annual report form the National Center for Health Statistics examines national trends in health statistics. The report includes a highlights section, chartbook, and 151 trend tables.

Healthy People 2010 Database
This resource, a product of the Centers for Disease Control, is an interactive database that contains the most recent monitoring data for tracking the Healthy People 2010 campaign. Data are included for all the objectives and subgroups identified in the Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health.

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics
This report from the American Heart Association examines cardiovascular mortality trends among women, men, and children.

Longitudinal Studies on Aging
This collaboration of the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Institute on Aging is a multicohort study of persons 70 years of age and over, and is designed primarily to measure changes in the health, functional status, living arrangements, and health services utilization of two cohorts of Americans as they move into and through the oldest ages.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
The data in the weekly MMWR are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments. The reporting week concludes at close of business on Friday; compiled data on a national basis are officially released to the public on the succeeding Friday.

Older Americans 2006: Key Indicators of Well-Being
This report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics covers 31 key indicators that portray aspects of the lives of older Americans and their families. The report is divided into five subject areas: population, economics, health status, health risks and behaviors, and health care.

The Wealth Gap in Health (135kb)
This report from the Population Reference Bureau provides data on the health of women and children in 53 developing countries.

StateHealthFacts.org
This service of the Kaiser Family Foundation provides updated data on state health coverage, coverage trends and Medicaid spending.

Health Accounts
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provide state level spending for health care from 1980-2000. Data includes historical and projected expenditures and age estimates.

Teaching/Training Modules on Trends in Health and Aging
This site provides teaching modules on trends in health-related behaviors, health status, health care utilization, functional status and disability, and health care expenditures of the country's aging population. Modules are based on and illustrated with data from the NCHS Data Warehouse.

Housing

Census in Housing: Housing Characteristics in the U.S.
This resource from the U.S. Census Bureau presents selected housing characteristics data from decennial census housing files over 60 years. Trend analyses are discussed, with graphic illustration at the national level. These data were compiled from census housing reports and electronic data files.

Elderly Housing: Federal Housing Programs that Offer Assistance for the Elderly (730kb)
This report, published in February 2005 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, examines 23 federal housing programs targeted for, or that have special features, for older adults.

HUDUser.org Data Sets
This service of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides researchers with access to the original electronic data sets generated by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research data collection efforts, including the American Housing Survey, HUD median family income limits, as well as microdata from research initiatives on topics such as housing discrimination, the HUD-insured multifamily housing stock, and the public housing population.

HUDUser.org State of the Cities Data System
The State of the Cities Data Systems is sponsored by HUD and provides data for individual metropolitan areas, central cities, and suburbs. SCDS includes detailed demographic and economic characteristics; the latest available unemployment rates; information on jobs, business establishments, and average pay since the 1990s; violent and property crime rates collected by the FBI; local building permits; city and suburban government finances; and 1990 and 2000 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data.

Local Area Low Income Housing Database
Organized by states, this data from the National Low-Income Housing Initiative provide an assessment of local housing conditions based on 2000 Census in terms of housing affordability and problems at the county, metropolitan area, and state levels across the U.S.

Progress in the Housing of Older Persons: A Chartbook (749kb)
This report from AARP documents basic trends in the housing circumstances of older household. It also provides detailed information on the housing conditions of older household and presents data on specific indicators for older owner, renter, single-person, and ethnic minority households.

The State of the Nation's Housing 2002 (826kb)
This report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University examines current trends affecting income and wealth gaps separating the housing haves and have-nots.

Insurance and Public Benefits

Annual Report: State Medicaid Fraud Control Units (747kb)
This report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides statistical accomplishments and case narratives of Medicaid provider fraud and incidences of patient abuse and neglect.

Federal Agencies with Statistical Programs
FedStats, a gateway to statistics from more than 100 federal agencies, provides a comprehensive list of agencies that collect and compile demographic information.

National Institute of Senior Centers Report
This report from the U.S. Administration on Aging provides a demographic profile of senior center users as well as statistical data that demonstrates senior centers in the 21st Century provide a social support milieu that promotes successful aging among its participants. Surveys were conducted in California, Florida, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Texas and Tennessee.

Social Security Office of Policy: Research and Analysis
This resource from the Social Security Administration Provides statistics on the impact and operations of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs, and on the earnings of the working and beneficiary populations.

State Units on Aging
Find designated units on aging in all 50 states and select U.S. territories..

Longevity

Atlas of United States Mortality
This resource from the National Center for Health Statistics shows all leading causes of death by race and sex, broken down for small U.S. geographic areas.

Medicare

Medicare Tomorrow: Future Savings for Beneficiaries (511kb)
This report provides a state-by-state analysis of the impact of the new Medicare prescription drug benefits on low-income and other older adults who enroll in the program.

Minorities

AoA Statistics: Minority Aging
The Administration on Aging provides several profiles of minority aging populations in the U.S.

Older Workers

Labor Can Help Employers and Employees Plan Better for the Future (74kb)
This publication of the U.S. General Accounting Office examines demographic changes and challenges for employers, the economy, and older Americans.

Population and Immigration

65+ in the United States (3,020kb)
This e-book, written by Frank B. Hobbs and Bonnie L. Damon and published by the U.S. Census Bureau, looks at aging trends in terms of population profile and growth; racial, ethnic, and gender diversity and change; and health, social, and economic profile.

U.S. Population Estimates for States by Age
This resource from the U.S. Administration on Aging reports state-by-state populations.

Poverty

Patterns of Poverty in America
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that 12.4 percent of the U.S. population--about 34 million people--were below the poverty level in 1999. The data, which include the first information available from the 2000 Census long form, show wide disparities in poverty levels among states and local areas.

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
The U.S. Census Bureau shares more current estimates of selected income and poverty statistics than Census 2000 through a program called Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE). Estimates are created for states, counties and school districts.

U.S. Poverty Data
The U.S. Census Bureau provides a wealth of data on poverty in the nation, including alternative measures of poverty for 2001 and 2002; detailed poverty tables, including historical data from 1959-2002; 65+ by ratio of income to poverty by state; survey of income and program participation.

Retirement

Which U.S. States Are the 'Oldest'?
According to 2000 Census Data, Ohio is one of nine states with more than one million elderly residents each. These nine states are home to fully half of the nation's older population. This report breaks down by state the number of older residents and what percentage of the total population they comprise.

Social Security

OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County
The Social Security Administration focuses on the Social Security beneficiary population at local state and county levels. Basic program data is presented on the number and type of beneficiaries and the amount of benefits paid. It also shows the numbers of men and women aged 65 and older receiving benefits.

Transportation

National Transportation Statistics Report
The annual report from the U.S. Department of Transportation provides more than 200 tables of data on the extent, condition, use and performance of the nation's physical transportation network; accidents, crashes, fatalities, and injuries for each mode and hazardous materials; the relationship between transportation and the economy; and transportation energy use and environmental impact.

Volunteers

Fact Sheet on Aging in America
This report from Experience Corps, a national organization that engages Americans age 55 and older to serve as tutors and mentors to children in urban public schools and after-school programs, reveals that nearly half of all Americans age 55 and over volunteered at least once in the past year. Even among those age 75 and older, 43 percent had volunteered at some point in the previous year.

Giving and Volunteering in the United States
Independent Sector, a leadership forum for charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs, analyzes the over-50 population in the U.S. by examining the current giving and volunteering patterns of this age group, and comparing the philanthropic habits of Americans still in their working years, aged 50 to 64, and those who are retired, aged 65 and over.

Volunteering Across the Ages
The U.S. Department of Labor provides statistical data on volunteering across different age cohorts, including older adults.

The Value of Volunteer Time
This report from Independent Sector, a leadership forum for charities, foundations, and corporate giving programs, provides a historical look at volunteering and its estimated dollar value.