New Research Report on "Aging in Place"

 The Population Reference Bureau has published a report, "Helping Americans Age in Place" about demographic trends in aging. They have summarized findings about the health, economic circumstances, and social well-being of older adults. Here are some of the statistics from this report:

• Among U.S. adults ages 65 and older living outside of institutions, more than one in four report having difficulty with at least one daily activity and receiving no assistance, according to the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study.

• Two nationally representative surveys suggest that more than one in 10 older Americans living outside of institutions are mistreated in some way, most commonly by someone who neglects, verbally abuses, or takes financial advantage of them.

• As many as one in seven Americans ages 71 and older has some type of dementia, according to the first estimates ever made using a nationally representative sample of older adults.

These statistics can be used by community-based social services to address the issues faced by older adults. You can read the entire report here.

New Report on American Grandparents

The MetLife Mature Market  Institute recently published a study about grandparents: "The MetLife Report on American Grandparents: New Insights for a New Generation of Grandparents".  The data for this study was gathered from the 2010 Census Bureau reports, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys, and the Center for Disease Control.  

Highlights of this study include:

•  Approximately one in ten households are headed by a grandparent, who has at least one grandchild living with them.
• A majority of grandparents, (54%), are baby boomers, ages 45 to 64.
• There were an estimated 65 million grandparents in the United States in 2010 and it is estimated that this number will climb to 80 million in 2020.
• Grandparent spending on child-specific items (like infant formula and children's clothing) has increased 71% since 1999.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Baby Boomer Census Bureau Report

The U.S. Census Bureau has published its first report on Baby Boomers in 13 years. This report used data from the 2006 American Community Survey and it describes characteristics of Baby Boomers in 2006. Here are some highlights from this report:

• Baby Boomers were ages 42 to 60 in 2006.
• 26.1% of the U.S. population was a Baby Boomer in 2006.
• 65.6% of Baby Boomers were currently married.    
• 17% of Baby Boomers were divorced.
• 11.7% were never married.
• 74.1% were employed.
• The South had the highest number of Baby Boomers.
• California was the state with the most Baby Boomers and Florida was number four.
• Pasco County was the number five county in the entire U.S. in Baby Boomer growth rate from 2000 to 2006!

You can find more information by accessing the full report here.

New Statistics on Internet Use by Older Adults

The Neilsen Company has recently published a report that shows that internet use by Seniors has increased 55% in the last five years.  This is an increase of over 6 million Seniors!  According to this study, the top five online activities for people 65 and older were:

• Personal email  88.6%
  
• Viewed or printed maps online  68.6%
• Checked weather online  60.1%
• Paid/viewed  bills online   51.2%
  
• Viewed/posted photos online  50.1%

The top 5 online destinations for people 65 and older were:

• Google Search
• Windows Media Player
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Amazon

Facebook showed the biggest increase in use by older adults - it ranked 45th last year and is now ranked 3rd.