A Profile of Older Americans: 2004 - Statistics from the Administration on Aging

AoA - Statistics - A Profile of Older Americans: 2003: "A Profile of Older Americans: 2004" is an interesting study in what are the demographics of seniors. For example, New York has more than 2.5 million residents over 65, and New Jersey more than 1 million.

Some other interesting facts and figures from the study:

• In 2002, over 12.7 million persons aged 65 and older were discharged from short stay hospitals. This is a rate of 3,575 for every 10,000 persons aged 65+ which is more than three times the comparable rate for persons aged 45-64 (which was 1,159 per 10,000).
• In 2002, older consumers averaged $3,741 in out-of-pocket health care expenditures, an increase of 45% since 1992. In contrast, the total population spent considerably less, averaging $2,416 in out-of-pocket costs.
• While a relatively small number (1.56 million) and percentage (4.5%) of the 65+ population lived in nursing homes in 2000, the percentage increases dramatically with age, ranging from 1.1% for persons 65-74 years to 4.7% for persons 75-84 years and 18.2% for persons 85+.
• About 3.6 million elderly persons (10.2%) were below the poverty level in 2003. This poverty rate was not statistically different from the poverty rate in 2002. The historic lowest level of 9.7% was reached in 1999. Another 2.3 million or 6.7% of the elderly were classified as "near-poor" (income between the poverty level and 125% of this level).