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family members for longer period of time than they will care for their own <br />children (under 18 years of age)! This will be exacerbated as the Baby <br />Boomers age to due fewer family caregivers with responsibility for more <br />elderly adults. <br />In the United States, comparing the turn of the century year 1900 to 2000: <br />• The 65+ age group is 3 times larger. <br />• The 65-74 age group (18.4 million) is eight times larger, <br />• The 75-84 age group (12.4 million) is 16 times larger, and <br />• The 85+ age group is 34 times larger. (AoA, Ref #2) <br />As illustrated in Table 1, in the year 2000 the older population (65+) now <br />numbers 35 million. By the year 2030, the older population will more than <br />double to about 70 million. The 85+ population will see an even more <br />dramatic increase from 4.2 million in 2000 to 8.9 million in 2030. (AoA, Ref <br />#3) <br />Table 1 also demonstrates how the "age wave" will be at high tide in the <br />year 2030 when all Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) will reach <br />65 years of age. The 65+ population in 2030 will represent 20% of the U.S. <br />population compared to 12.4% in 2000. The ratio of older adults to the rest of <br />the population will increase from 1 to 8 to 1 to 5. (AoA, Ref #4) By 2030 the <br />state of North Carolina will have nearly 18% of its population over age 65, <br />which is a higher percentage than the state of Florida's current 17.6% 65+ <br />population. (AoA, Ref #4) <br />In 2000 the state of North Carolina had almost one million (969,048) older <br />persons 65+, representing 12% of the total population. The state's 65+ <br />population showed a dramatic increase of 20.5% between 1990 and the <br />2000 Census (Table 1). Thirteen other states also had increases of 20% or <br />more for the decade. (AoA, Ref #5) <br />The growth in numbers of older adults in Orange County is expected to <br />outpace similar growth for the nation as a whole, as well as that of North <br />Carolina. Orange County's 65+ population is expected to grow from 10,744 <br />persons in the year 2000 to 23,840 by 2020 (Table 1). This is an increase of <br />122% over the 2000 total, versus an anticipated total county population <br />increase of only 40.5% for the same period. <br />Page 2 of 18 <br />