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Subscribe to RSSMen are catching up with women in the longevity sweepstakes, according to a new analysis of census data, which show that the U.S. is the oldest it's ever been.
The population of Americans ages 65 and older increased by 15.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, far outpacing population growth as a whole, at 9.7 percent, according to the data, which were released this week.
One of every 7.6 Americans, or 13 percent, is now in that group, the highest ratio the census has recorded since it began collecting age data in 1790.
While men and women alike are living longer, men are closing the gap in the historical lead women have had. Twenty years ago, there were 83 men for every 100 women ages 65 and older; now there are 90.5 men.
Read the entire census report (.pdf)
Carrie Werner, the statistician who compiled the analysis, said the data "will provide some unique challenges for the data users."
Your odds of reaching 90 keep getting better
They're more like a "whack over the head with a 2-by-4," said Paul Downey, president and chief executive of Senior Community Centers, which offers senior services to low-income residents in the San Diego area.
"This should be a wake-up call for our elected officials to start focusing on aging policy now," Downey told NBCSanDiego.com. "Otherwise, we'll be dealing with it in crisis mode."
Downey said the numbers raise a red flag for the solvency of Social Security solvency, which he said will rely on a smaller proportion of the population to provide funds for a growing population of seniors.
"We risk people falling through the cracks," Downey said. "We need to acknowledge now that we are a graying nation."
Who lives where
As you might expect, given its reputation as a retirement haven, Florida is the oldest state, with 17.3 percent of its 19 million residents 65 or older, according to msnbc.com's analysis of the data, which didn't rank the states.
Aging in place: Most in U.S. want to stay put
But there are some surprises at the top of the list. For example, the cold-weather states of Maine (15.9 percent) and Pennsylvania (15.4 percent) are third and fourth, a reflection of the Northeastern U.S.'s status as the region with the highest percentage of older residents.
The 10 oldest states, with the percentage of their populations 65 and older:
1. Florida 17.3
2. West Virginia 16.0
3. Maine 15.9
4. Pennsylvania 15.4
5. Iowa 14.9
6. Montana 14.8
7. Vermont 14.6
8. North Dakota 14.5
9. Rhode Island 14.4
Tie Arkansas 14.4
Tie Delaware 14.4
Other arthritis-friendly states popularly considered to be retiree magnets didn't crack the top of the list. Hawaii did make it to a tie for 12th, with an older population of 14.3 percent, but Arizona was all the way down in a tie for 19th (13.8 percent).
By region:
1. Northeast 14.1
2. Midwest 13.5
3. South 13.0
4. West 11.9
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Leave a Comment:
Achieving equality is slow but coming.
Woman haven't nearly reached equality when they're not paid the same.
In many cases, it is our own fault. We need to be more aggressive in salary negotiation.
There's no need of living longer if ya cant hold the remote and your beer at the same time, right boys?
Here's another reason we dont live longer
http://www.world-wide-ed.com/2009/04/27/why-men-dont-live-as-long-as-women
Men don't live as long as women in the states likely because men try harder to win a Darwin award.
Soooo funny!!
Some of you seem to be confusing equal pay and job parity.
Fewer guys must be getting married.
Men don't live long enough since women nag them to death...
I'm sure if women lived five fewer years, there would be a national campaign to spend more money on women. As it stands, women pay less into Social Security funds and draw roughly 50% more. Shouldn't women pay a higher FICA rate?
Healthcare spending should be rebalanced until male longetivity equals female longetivity. Why should Grandpa die at a younger age than Grandma?
Females regularly outliving males is a new phenomenon. It is almost wholly an artifact of modern medicine. Widows, except in times of war, were much less common than widowers.
There is a reason many old women were "spinsters". Childbirth and its consequences are very hard on the body and before modern medicine they were deadly.
Men don't live as long on average than women because we take more physical risks than they do. It's just in our nature to do so.
The best way for men to live longer is to get a penis enhancer. Mine is named Lucy, and she is 20.
Men don't live longer. It just seems longer!
Spoken like a woman?!
Women are always late.......
Welcome to the world of earning a living and dy ing earlier.
yes, exactly. welcome to the world of working mundane b.s. jobs of 40+ hours a week with little to NO appreciation, sore backs, tired legs and paychecks too small. Its great, aint it!!! Good thing modern medicine keeps ya'll nice and medicated to last longer than previous generations.
I would have thought women were falling back to the men trying to navigate the huge costs of our right-wing mandated rationed health care.
The only thing better than a BIG BUSINESS making huge profits hand over fist is another illiterate right-wing radical armed to the teeth and packing concealed weapons.
We would have closed the gap completely if it wasn't for those damn liberals frustrating people to death. and the democrats stealing our paychecks to give to the non working class. something tells me the women are not living as long. so the study is probably flawed, the newer chemically fed fast food generation coming up behind us should show some interesting study results, to bad we wont be around to see that report. Santa is a Republican, that means Political Prisoner gets coal this year.
Right-wing mandated rationed health care???? Oh yeah, the Republicans took complete control in 08 and passed the law mandating everybody get rationed health care. I forgot history already. My bad. It was George Bush who said "We need to pass the bill before we can find out what is in it." How silly of me to assume Democrats passed such a monstrous bill. It is those evil Republicans who would pass something without reading it. They should all be imprisoned for selling out to big business and passing a bill nobody read and was written by the healthcare industry for them.
The Republicans didn't take control of the House of Representatives until 2010. Up until then the Dems controlled everything under Obama.
Obama has bankrupt the country. He must go back to Chicago in 2012. I will vote for anyone that runs against Obama. I am desperate.
Women live longer because of planned parenthood. Men are not welcome in that or any clinic. From pap smears to breast exams, women catch deadly desease while it is still treatable. Men wind up waiting until it becomes too late, unable to afford regular check ups.
Republicans seek to destroy planned parenthood. Out of the countless services they offer women, the one they hate the most is abortion. Therefore, women must lose all the benefits it offers because one is a moral issue.
Democrats passed the HCR bill with the help of one republican. Sadly, it did not go far enough. I understand the balance of conservatism and liberalism. Both are needed to have a successful government. However, with matters of health, all have the right to medical care. It is one of the few things that should not be profitized.
How can one argue the right to live for the unborn and the right to executions, VA benefits, and the denial of care to the dying? Sounds hypocritical, doesn't it? Perhaps it is just being selective; a more popular title for such selections would be 'death panel'. Oddly, the republicans are opposed to death panels even as they support it.
Democrats, on the other hand, had the opportunity to pass a universal healthcare mandate and failed. This is in large part due to the lobbyists and healthcare insurance propaganda. Democrats did not have a super majority. Add the blue dog democrats in and we get a fillibustered congress. Representative Snowe's vote is the only reason we got so little.
At least it is a start.
Where did you get the idea that men are not welcome at Planned Parenthood? They serve both men and women. I know, I go there. I see both males and females patients there. I also see men at other free/low cost clinics. I got another shocker for you, they even have males working at Planned Parenthood.
I didn't say they don't go there. I said they aren't welcome there. You missed my point entirely. There is no cancer prevention like prostate exams for men at planned parenthood.
You saw a male working at planned parenthood?!? Oh my. Thanks for being so observant for the obvious.
I love it.....equal rights translates to equal responsibilities, stress, anxiety, and physical pressures that go with career building and the work force in general.
Welcome to equal right girls!!!
Are you clueless? With a divorce rate at 50% and still the majority get the kids and salaries that still don't equal mens rate of pay...how can you welcome "girls" to equal rights?
Tracer...what planet are you from?
The argument of women not getting equal pay with men is bogus. It seems to be un-PC to simply state the truth: in an apples to apples comparison, women and men are paid equally.
I've employed several hundred people in my career. I've actually promoted more female managers than male managers. But the dynamics in the workplace with women and their lives generally preclude them from as many promotion opportunities. When you take several months out of work to have a family, your job may be held for you. Butthe others who actually stayed while you were out of family leave learned more about how the business is currently being run, and developed more tenure. For those women who choose to not have a family and stick in their careers and pay the tenure and experience price, their pay is equal to males.
Ladies, I love ya. But you can't have your cake and eat it, too.
You are right and these days Women are getting promoted to management more than men in the name of diversity. I have seen that happen but despite that women keep complaining all the time.
You guys, Brian, Ralph, Azrancher...your comments are making me smile!
Tracer you may be right, I think in reality women are not living as long as they used to, the studies over the next ten years might show that.
Over the last three decades, men have been forced to learn to do things for themselves which used to be considered women’s work such as cooking, laundry, house cleaning, shopping, etc. As a result, men have become much more self-reliant and the need to have a woman around the house has diminished. That leads to less stress, lower blood pressure, more bachelorhood and longer life span. Meanwhile, the super mom syndrome is taking its toll on women.
The gap will continue to narrow as more and more women are promoted to stressful jobs. I work for a fortune 200 company and they now heavily promote women over men for top jobs.
Good. Now they can have the corony aneurysms that go with them.
Only joshing on the last post. And a typo correction: I meant CORONARY.
But seriously, goodness bless women. And sure, both genders are living longer. But has the QUALITY of life improved for seniors? That's debatable.
If you want to live longer, get a pair of ear plugs, so the women don't hound you to death.
"That's what she said"
...Living longer to die in misery and the despairing poverty as if it is a `medieval' village, except we now have color TVs? Most likely the budgets of Defense departments will not be apporpriately reduced. Elderly support systems will not be established. In this regard, it would wiser for the US to look more closely at social support systems of Japan. Even China will be required to recognize this `problem' of longevity.
Summarizing - we are all living longer; even the guys. We also have a social security system that will be "burdened" far beyond its ability to respond. Meanwhile we continue to look for "payroll tax cuts" which only decrease the funds flowing into social security.
This does not look like a story with a happy ending.............
Married men live longer than single men ... but are more willing to die!
Hahaha!
Women are smarter and better organized...I still win this one.
"Women are smarter and better organized"
Do you have any proof that women are smarter? We know that men are smart enough to invent, design, manufacture, deliver, assemble just about everything in your surroundings, inside and outside of your house. AS a group, what do women do?
They are smarter because they know how to manipulate men into providing those things for them.
True. Women are the manipulators of men. They offer warm, wet pleasures and demand everything else.
Good news for our Social Security system. Obama wants a payroll tax holiday and now we have men living even longer. When FDR started Social Security the average life span was less than 65 so he only expected a few people to ever claim any benefits.
"Obama wants a payroll tax holiday and now we have men living even longer"
We could charge women more Social Security tax so that the payout to women is equal to the payout to men. Though, overall, women also contribute much less to the Social Security system. Women simply cost more.
Bwah! Ha! Ha! I don't know what you think you've won, but that's hilarious.
Yes it is funny. I guess being smart means saying you have won despite what others say? LOL!
The only reason they live longer is because God in his Infinite Wisdom allows us a few extra years of peace in Hevean without them.
Nice
If women were so much smarter than men, they wouldn't have allowed themselves to be abused thus.
probably you haven't come across abusive women? They can be deadly...much more than abusive men.
Love how everyone turns this into a sexist/political argument.
This is an example where the writer should have said "I'm just saying..." at the end of it so that the discussion could be over. Women suck, men suck...all original statements.
I'm sure most of you are adults yet 99% of the comments are the childish of all the comments that could've been made.
Equality at last.....
Loud music is the reason men are living longer.
They go deaf sooner and can't be nagged to death.
How come you people aren't capable of staying on subject in these comments?
Inevitably some "clear thinker" writing in here will always, ALWAYS, turn every subject matter into an "it's the fault of you're political Party that is destroying the Country" argument?
No wonder the politicians have no problem getting away with the crap they pull on us, we've shown them that we're clueless, egocentric idiots who are eager to give up whatever dignity that we used to possess as free thinking people and blindly march lock-step to any warped flavor of ideological mantra they are currently preaching - no matter how infantile or far out from reality it is!