Older Americans are richer and live longer, but fatter than ever

A recent report was issued from the data of 15 agencies called, ‘Oder Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being’. The report featured tendencies on health, economics and population for those 65 and older. The results were very interesting, showing that Americans 65 and older were more educated, making more money and living longer, but more obese than previous generations.

The report states that the net worth of older Americans has gone up 80% over the last 20 years, while they are expected to live about 19 years longer than older Americans in 1900. Although that number is up, life expectancy is still greater in Sweden, France, Japan and Canada.

The report also noted that while only 24% of older Americans had high school diplomas and 5% had bachelor’s degrees in 1965, that number had went up to 76% with high school diplomas and 19% had bachelor degrees.

Unfortunately, the report also found that Americans are getting fatter. In a study from 1988-1994 it was noted that 27% of women aged 65-74 were obese and 19% of women aged 75 and older were obese; that number has increased. Now the number of women from ages 65-74 has went up to 37%, while the percentage of women that are 75 and older and obese is 24%.

By looking at the data from the report, researchers have estimated that the number of elderly people age 65 and over will nearly double by 2030, from 37 million people in 2006 (12% of the population) to 71.5 million (20% of the population).



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