Council Publication Focuses on an Aging U.S. Population “Over the next 50 years the United States will undergo a profound transformation, becoming a mature nation in which one citizen in five is 65 or older,” writes Linda J. Waite. Waite is editor of Aging, Health, and Public Policy: Demographic and Economic Perspectives, a recent supplement to the Population Council’s peer-reviewed journal Population and Development Review (PDR). This dramatic rise in the number of older Americans (from one in eight today) 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 families that provide support for older people. Despite improving medical knowledge and reduced rates of disability, many of the elderly will live with chronic disease and infirmity. The Council published the volume on aging to advance understanding of these changes and to provide a foundation for consideration of emerging issues. The supplement brings together important studies by distinguished social scientists who offer a variety of perspectives. The data analyzed come largely from such longitudinal surveys as the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Now in its 31st year, the quarterly PDR seeks to advance knowledge of the interrelationships between population and socioeconomic development. It also provides a forum for discussion of related issues of public policy. The journal draws on high-level social science expertise in economics, anthropology, sociology, and political science to offer ideas, analysis, and insights that combine readability and scholarship. The Council’s own research into aging by Policy Research Division vice president John Bongaarts, Research Associate Zachary Zimmer, and former Council president Linda Martin has been published in the division’s Working Papers series and in such journals as the American Journal of Public Health, Demography, Journal of Health and Aging, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, Journal of Gerontology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of the American Medical Association, Social Science and Medicine, and PDR itself. Much of this research is available at www.popcouncil.org/socsci/agingRI.html. Financial support for Aging, Health, and Public Policy was provided by the National Institute on Aging’s Office of Behavioral and Social Research and by 11 university-based centers on aging supported by NIA. (Return to issue contents)
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