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Aging, Health, and Public Policy: On Center Stage NEW YORK (28 February 2005) — The population of the United States, in concert with much of the rest of the world, is aging rapidly, especially in the number and proportion of people aged 85 and older. Despite improving medical knowledge and reduced rates of disability in recent years, many of the elderly will live with chronic disease and disability. The dramatic rise in the number of older Americans will have a powerful impact on health care delivery systems, on major programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and on social institutions such as the family that provide instrumental, financial, and emotional support for older people. To advance understanding of these changes, the Population Council has released Aging, Health, and Public Policy: Demographic and Economic Perspectives today. (to order) In this volume, a supplement to the Population Council journal Population and Development Review, distinguished social scientists bring a variety of disciplinary perspectives—economic, demographic, epidemiological—to bear on the subject of population aging, looking particularly to likely future trends and their economic consequences. Among the questions investigated:
The data in the book come largely from a number of important studies, including elaborate longitudinal surveys such as the (U.S.) Health and Retirement Study. Taken together, the chapters provide a portrait of a dynamic, vibrant, innovative program of research that lays the foundation for understanding population aging and the social and economic challenges it brings. Financial support for Aging, Health, and Public Policy was provided by the National Institute on Aging’s (NIA) Behavioral and Social Research Program. "The 2005 State of the Union address has brought the aging of the population onto center stage, and policymakers are actively addressing the health and economic challenges caused by this historic demographic shift," says Richard M. Suzman, Ph.D., associate director for Behavioral and Social Research at NIA. "This timely collection provides important insights into such demographic and economic trends as the increase in life expectancy and earlier retirement." The editor of this volume is Linda J. Waite, director, Center on Aging, and Lucy Flower Professor of Sociology at the National Opinion Research Center and the University of Chicago. Population and Development Review seeks to advance knowledge of the interrelationships between population and socioeconomic development and provides a forum for discussion of related issues of public policy. To order this resource, please contact the Population Council's Office of Publications by e-mail (publications@popcouncil.org); phone (+1 212 339 0514); fax (+1 212 755 6052); or postal mail (Population Council, Office of Publications, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017-2201, USA). About the Population Council About the National Institute on Aging ### Media contacts
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