Nina Glasgow

Dept. of Rural Sociology,
Cornell University

The older population - defined as individuals ages 65 and older - is the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. Likewise, it is the most rapidly growing segment of New York State's population. Increases in life expectancy throughout the 20th Century resulted in increases in the number and proportion of older people. In 1900 only 4 percent of the population was in the 65 and older age group but by 2000 older people comprised over 12 percent of the population. By 2030, the older population will increase to 20 percent or more of the total population. The New York State Office for the Aging projects that New York's older population will increase by 35 percent between 1995 and 2025. The entry of baby boomers into old age will fuel much of this rapid increase in the size of the older population.

Population aging presents both opportunities and challenges. Here, I discuss challenges and opportunities as well as strategies communities might use to plan for an increasingly aged population.

Challenges

Increased Demand for Services
One challenge of an aging population is the increased demand for particular types of services (e.g., health care). At the federal government level, Social Security and Medicare are the two primary programs funded to benefit older people. Both programs are under scrutiny as to how and at what level the federal government will continue funding them. Funding for these programs is likely to become an even more critical public policy issue, as the large cohorts of the baby boom generation enter old age starting around 2010 and continuing to 2030. Public funding of Social Security and Medicare is and will continue to be seen as a primary challenge associated with the aging population.

The older population's need for particular types of services - e.g., affordable housing, housing outfitted to serve the needs of frail or disabled older people, transportation and long-term care - will challenge state and local governments. Older people, of course, purchase many of the services they use on the private market, and, to the extent that they do, state and local governments will not have to increase their services provision for older people. State and local governments, however, need to monitor the services needs of their older citizens.

Aging and Caregiving
With an increasingly aged population comes a greater need for informal caregiving. While the majority of older people report good health, declining health is common at more advanced stages of old age. Families are the primary providers of informal caregiving to older family members, providing an estimated 70 to 80 percent of all caregiving support older people receive. The parents of baby boomers (the currently old), however, average three children surviving until age 40 for every woman who ever married. The baby boom generation that will reach old age during the first quarter of the twenty-first century is projected to have under two children per ever-married female. The baby bust followed the baby boom. Baby boomers have also been less likely than earlier generations to marry, and boomers have much higher divorce rates than do their parents. The trends in family and household characteristics of baby boomers suggest that larger numbers of baby boomers compared to the parental generation will live alone without the caregiving and other benefits conferred by a spouse and with fewer adult offspring. Shortages in informal caregiving may result, and baby boomers are apt to rely more heavily on formal sources of care. Communities may need to provide more formal caregiving for frail older people and to explore strategies to complement the informal caregiving that families provide.

Opportunities

Older Consumers
Opportunities also accrue from an aging population. For example, older people spend money in the economy, but the majority of older people do not demand jobs. Older consumers purchase goods and services that benefit local economies, while the money to pay for those goods and services typically comes from Social Security benefits (transferred from federal dollars), savings and investments, and retirement pensions from jobs previously held during their years of employment. In short, older people help fuel local economies through their spending, and the current generation of older people is relatively more affluent than were previous older generations.

Retirement Migration and Economic Development
The in-migration of retirees into both rural and urban areas of the country has stimulated increases in the number of jobs available for working age people, particularly in the services, housing and health care sectors of local economies. Retirement migration areas, which are spread widely across the country but with particular concentrations in the South and West, have experienced population, employment and income growth. People who move to a new community after retirement typically are more affluent, younger on average, better educated and more likely to be in married couple households compared to the older resident populations they join. State and local officials often view retirement migration as a community development option, and economic development departments of several states and localities have adopted explicit policies to try to attract retirees to their areas.

Retirees are attracted to scenic beauty and outdoor recreation - to places with lakes, mountains or beaches. In New York, counties in the Catskills and the Finger Lakes Region have had in-movement of retirees. In Pennsylvania, retirees have moved to the Pocono Mountains. Florida, Arizona and California are obvious places of retirement in-migration. But it is worth noting that Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Upper Great Lakes Region of Michigan, the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas, as well as areas of North Carolina and Maine are among other places in the country that have had significant in-migration of retirees. Not every community has abundant natural amenities that are attractive to the relatively affluent retirees who move. Communities can and have, however, built golf courses, improved their health care services, and developed housing designed to attract retirement-age individuals. Retirees are also attracted to college and university towns, and communities that improve or capitalize on their educational resources are likely to increase their attractiveness as retirement migration destinations.

Older Volunteers
Older people are also a resource as community volunteers. The percent of older people who do volunteer work has increased in recent decades. Older people bring a wealth of experience to volunteer work, and, given that the majority of older people are retired, the older age group has the time to volunteer. With the majority of working age women now in the paid labor force, the older population is one of the few segments of society that has time to engage in volunteer work. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), with many local chapters, is one organization that facilitates volunteer opportunities for older people. Other programs do so as well. But public officials, agency directors and other community decision-makers often view older people as a problem rather than as a resource communities can tap. Older volunteers report that being recruited by someone in the community to volunteer is the primary reason they began volunteer work. Thus, a proactive stance among communities to recruit older volunteers is likely to yield positive results. Moreover, older volunteers are likely to derive satisfaction from having contributed to the quality of life and well being of their community.

Conclusion
To briefly recapitulate, older people present both challenges and opportunities to communities, and it behooves community leaders to plan for the needs as well as the benefits to be derived from increasing numbers of older people. Just as communities needed to build more public schools when baby boomers started to school, communities now need to consider whether the number of assisted living and other long-term care facilities are adequate to meet the demands of increasing numbers of older people. An aging society also means fewer middle-aged adults to care informally for older people. Thus, it is important to gain an understanding of how informal and formal caregiving networks can be constructed to bolster each other.

Often older people are thought of in social problems terms. In actuality, the majority of older people enjoy good health, the older population is no longer disproportionately likely to be in poverty, and older people can and do contribute time and expertise to their communities. Communities need to devise innovative strategies to provide older people with opportunities to use their skills in volunteer and other activities that benefit local communities. For example, the University of North Carolina-Asheville has a Center for Creative Retirement that involves its older residents in community projects. Asheville is a retirement destination area that has attracted well-educated retirees, many of whom were executives in private and public organizations. The Center for Creative Retirement gives the retirees outlets for creative activities while also making use of a wealth of talent for the benefit of the community.

The New York State Office for the Aging in 2000, in conjunction with the State Society on Aging of New York, published a report titled, Project 2015, The Future of Aging in New York State. Approximately 35 scholars and practitioners wrote articles and briefs designed to cover a variety of topics related to the aging of New York's baby boom generation. A copy of the report can be obtained from the New York State Office for the Aging, Two Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1251. The report can also be downloaded from the agency's Web site, www.aging.state.ny.us

Nina Glasgow, Ph.D. is a senior research and extension associate in the Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University. She can be reached by telephone at 607-255-1689 or via e-mail at ng14@cornell.edu.