According to AgingStats.gov there were just over 90 million people over 60 years of age living in the United States as of 2004. Given a total (2005) United States population figure of just under 296 million people, this means that almost a third of the population is minimally qualified as elderly! Within this elderly population, roughly 58% of those living in the community (about 52 million people) are estimated to have some (at least minimal) need for elder care.
Though there is much need for elder care in the United States, there is also a lot of elder care occurring. The Administration on Aging estimates that, out of roughly 106 million USA households existing in 2003, more than 22 million (or roughly one in five) were providing informal care to one or more elderly persons. Statistics also suggest that approximately one in 10 workers were employed in elder care related fields.
These staggering statistics show that the need for eldercare is universal. If a family has not yet had to deal with providing elder care, it is likely that they know another family who has, and also likely that they will have occasion to provide elder care in the future.
