Research Exercise
Accessing and interpreting census information





     This assignment has two major objectives:  To introduce an important reference source on aging in American society (the Administration on Aging’s Online Statistical Data on the Aging), and to put together an opportunity to analyze and evaluate presentations of data that tacitly discuss the joint impact of society on individuals and aging on society.
 

Some facts: 
  • Since the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy has increased in the developed world faster than in all of recorded history prior to 1900. 
  • Thirty-five years of life were been added to the average life span from the beginning to the end of the century. 
  • At the beginning of the 20th century, just above 4% of the proportion of the American population was age 65 and older. 
  • Today, in the United States, over 34 million persons are 65 years of age or older, accounting for nearly 13% of the population. 
  • In the year 2030, their numbers will more than double resulting in one in every five Americans being over 65. 
  • In other parts of the world, 16-18% are already 65+. 
  • By the year 2030, Japan is expected to have twice as many old persons as children.

What do these facts on aging mean?  Do they say more about individual experiences or more about a society and its changes?  In this mini-research project, you are first introduced to some of the available electronic resources that address the demographics of aging.  “Visit” several web sites on the demographics of aging, “read” one site thoroughly, and then summarize your observations with a four-to-five page analysis of the information presented.  Your brief paper presents your interpretation of some of the information you found on the web.  Your objective is to assess gender, ethnic/race, or class differences in aging and what the differences mean.  You are welcome to copy a table from the web-page and paste and print it as an evidence of your argument or as an addendum to your "report." 
 

The most inclusive census-based web site is the Administration on Aging’s summary entitled Online Statistical Data on the Aging.  The page as links to many specific reports. 

You should select the
Profile of Older Americans: 2003, or
Health, United States, 1999:  Health and Aging Chartbook (read only pages 16-26), or
Older Americans 2004: Key Indicators of Well-Being (select no more than two dimensions), or
We the Poeple: Aging in the United States. 
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