Loneliness highlights and statistics
The older adult population represents 14.1% of the U.S. population, about one in every seven Americans.
• The population age 65 and over numbered 44.7 million in 2013, an increase of 8.8 million or 24.7% since 2003.
• Between 2003 and 2013 the population age 60 and over increased 30.7% from 48.1 million to 62.8 million.
• The number of Americans aged 45–64—who will reach 65 over the next two decades—increased by 20.7% between 2003 and 2013.
• About one in every seven, or 14.1%, of the population, is an older American.
• Persons reaching age 65 have an average life expectancy of an additional 19.3 years (20.5 years for females and 17.9 years for males).
• There were 67,347 persons aged 100 or more in 2013 (0.15% of the total 65+ population).
• Older women outnumber older men at 25.1 million older women to 19.6 million older men.
• Older men were much more likely to be married than older women—72% of men, 46% of women. In 2014, 35% of older women were widows.
• About 28% (12.5 million) of non-institutionalized older persons live alone (8.8 )million women, 3.8 million men).
• Almost half of older women (46%) age 75+ live alone.
• In 2013, about 536,000 grandparents aged 65 or more had the primary responsibility for their grandchildren who lived with them.
• The population 65 and over has increased from 35.9 million in 2003 to 44.7 million in 2013 (a 24.7% increase) and is projected to more than double to 98 million in 2060.
• The 85+ population is projected to triple from 6 million in 2013 to 14.6 million in 2040. Over 4.2 million older adults (9.5%) were below the poverty level in 2013. This poverty rate is statistically different from the poverty rate in 2012 (9.1%). In 2011,
The U.S. Census Bureau also released a new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) which takes into account regional variations in the livings costs, non-cash benefits received, and non-discretionary expenditures but does not replace the official poverty measure. In 2013, the SPM shows a poverty level for older persons of 14.6% (more than 5 percentage points higher than the official rate of 9.5%). This increase is mainly due to including medical out-of-pocket expenses in the poverty calculations. Between 1980 and 2014, the centenarian population experienced a larger percentage increase than did the total population. There were 72,197 persons aged 100 or more in 2014 (0.2% of the total 65+ population). This is more than double the 1980 figure of 32,194. Since 1900, the percentage of Americans 65+ has more than tripled (from 4.1% in 1900 to 14.5% in 2014), and the number has increased over fourteen times (from 3.1 million to 46.2 million). The older population itself is increasingly older. In 2014, the 65-74 age group (26.4 million) was more than 12 times larger than in 1900; the 75-84 group (13.7 million) was more than 17 times larger, and the 85+ group (6.2 million) was 50 times larger.
