The Numbers are Staggering
The world's population is aging at a record pace. More than 56,000 individuals will turn age 65 or older each day between 2010 and 2025. The 85 and older population worldwide is expected to increase nearly six times -- from 38,000,000 to 216,000,000 -- between 2008 and 2050. The estimated number of people age 100 and over has doubled every decade since 1950 in developed countries. Older adults are looking for long-term care, health care, assisted living facilities and home care services more than any generation before them.
Consider these facts:
- In 2000, there were 600 million people in the world aged 60 and over; there will be 1.2 billion by 2025 and 2 billion by 2050.
Seniors 65+ will make up a significant percentage of these country populations by 2050:
Europe:
Asia:
- The number of people providing elder care to family members has more than doubled since 1987 especially in Japan, Europe and North America and will grow even faster on a global level in the years ahead.
- With 53% of those worldwide who care for aging parents or relatives spending 40 hours or more per week doing so (37 percent spend 80 hours or more), there is no end in sight in the demand for senior care services.
- Lost productivity, absenteeism, interruptions and replacing employees due to senior care obligations cost businesses billions of dollars annually.
- The vast majority of the seniors throughout the world prefer to age at home rather than move to a residential care facility, thus creating a self-perpetuating demand for in-home care services.
- Approximately 50% of people over age 85 will develop some form of dementia.
A Shortage of Care
These stunning statistics not only prove the growing need for senior home care, but also the fact that thousands of families are facing critical decisions. As a result of declining birthrates in most developed countries, people will have less familial care and support as they age. Our recent research indicates that demand for caregiving jobs will outpace supply in a big way.
A Global Crisis
While global aging represents a triumph of medical, social and economic advances over disease, it also presents tremendous challenges. Population aging strains social insurance and pension systems, and tests existing models of social support. It affects economic growth, trade, migration, disease patterns and prevalence, as well as fundamental assumptions about growing older.
In addition, new economic challenges are on the horizon. Population aging will have dramatic effects on social entitlement programs, labor supply, trade and savings around the globe, and may demand new fiscal approaches to accommodate a changing world.
Some governments have begun to plan for the long term, but most have not. The window of opportunity for reform is closing fast as the rate of population aging accelerates. While Europe currently has four people of working age for every older person, it will have only two workers per older person by 2050.
In addition, nearly 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's disease and related dementia -- a number that is expected to reach nearly 115 million in the next five decades. These are not just statistics; they represent millions of families with loved ones who require special senior care.
To read more interesting aging and home care facts concerning the oncoming global age wave, click through the demographic fact sheets for the countries in which Home Instead Senior Care is currently providing home care.
As the world ages, specialized and supported care is needed for seniors. Learn how Home Instead is helping to meet this demand:
