Caring for the Dependent Elderly

Excerpt

The populations of all Western industrialized societies have aged substantially in the past several decades. In the United States there will be a further dramatic increase in the proportion of the elderly in the next century; the percentage of persons older than 65 has gone from 4.1% in 1900 to 10.5% today and is expected to reach 17% in 2030. The biggest jump will occur in the years 2005 to 2030 when the number of people 65 and older is expected to go up from a little more than 30 million to more than 50 million, as those born in