Fifth of population to be over 65, Census says; whites no longer majority
WASHINGTON - Significant population shifts mean the United States at midcentury will be both older and more diverse, promising fundamental changes in American cultural and economic institutions.
The projections on aging, part of a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, will have dramatic ramifications for Social Security and health care programs.
Minorities, now about a third of the population, are expected to become the majority in 2042 and hit 54 percent in 2050. Hispanics, who make up about 15percent of the population today, will account for 30 percent in 2050, according to the projections.
Meanwhile, everyone in the enormous baby boom generation of the mid-20th century will be 65 or older by 2030. That is the year the Census Bureau projects that senior citizens will make up 1 in 5 U.S. residents. By 2050, the elderly will make up a full quarter of all Americans, most of them white.
“The white population is older and very much centered around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington public policy institute.
While non-Hispanics make up about two-thirds of the population today, they are only 55 percent of those younger than 5, thanks to a booming birthrate among minority residents, especially Hispanics. As a result, minorities will comprise more than half of all children by as early as 2023, the Census Bureau said, rising to 62 percent by 2050.
Funding for elderly to be squeezed
Graphic representations of growth rates in the population in 42 years resemble the figure 8, with large balloons at the top (those older than 65) and at the bottom (those under 35). Those in the middle — the so-called working ages of 18 to 64 — are projected to decline from 63 percent of the population today to 57 percent in 2050.
The Social Security Administration said that while the program for now is taking in more money than it pays out, the balance will tip in 2017, when payouts will exceed collections and it will have to begin dipping into its trust funds to pay benefits.
America in 2050: Even older and more diverse - Life - MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON - Significant population shifts mean the United States at midcentury will be both older and more diverse, promising fundamental changes in American cultural and economic institutions.
The projections on aging, part of a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, will have dramatic ramifications for Social Security and health care programs.
Minorities, now about a third of the population, are expected to become the majority in 2042 and hit 54 percent in 2050. Hispanics, who make up about 15percent of the population today, will account for 30 percent in 2050, according to the projections.
Meanwhile, everyone in the enormous baby boom generation of the mid-20th century will be 65 or older by 2030. That is the year the Census Bureau projects that senior citizens will make up 1 in 5 U.S. residents. By 2050, the elderly will make up a full quarter of all Americans, most of them white.
“The white population is older and very much centered around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington public policy institute.
While non-Hispanics make up about two-thirds of the population today, they are only 55 percent of those younger than 5, thanks to a booming birthrate among minority residents, especially Hispanics. As a result, minorities will comprise more than half of all children by as early as 2023, the Census Bureau said, rising to 62 percent by 2050.
Funding for elderly to be squeezed
Graphic representations of growth rates in the population in 42 years resemble the figure 8, with large balloons at the top (those older than 65) and at the bottom (those under 35). Those in the middle — the so-called working ages of 18 to 64 — are projected to decline from 63 percent of the population today to 57 percent in 2050.
The Social Security Administration said that while the program for now is taking in more money than it pays out, the balance will tip in 2017, when payouts will exceed collections and it will have to begin dipping into its trust funds to pay benefits.
America in 2050: Even older and more diverse - Life - MSNBC.com
