The nation’s median age in 2000 was 35.3 years. This means that if you took the entire population and stood them in a line according to age, 35.3 would be the age at the exact middle of the line. The median age in 2000 is the highest that it has ever been in the United States. For the first time in the history of our Census, the nation’s 65 and over population increased at a slower rate.

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The rise in the median age reflects a 4% decline among 18- to 34-year-olds and a 28% increase in 35- to 64-year-olds. The most rapid increase in size of any age group in the profile was the 49% jump in the population 45-to-54-years-old. As the Baby Boomers age the median age of the entire population is expected to continue to rise. Baby Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964. The first wave of Baby Boomers is now entering into their fifties.

As the median population of the United States increases we can expect a number of trends to develop. As the baby boomers continue to age our health care costs will increase. An aging workforce will put heavy demands on employee health plans and HMOs. We can expect new kinds of health care plans to emerge from political leaders, insurance companies and health care providers. Conflicts between the vested interests of employees, insurance carriers and businesses over the rising costs of health care will increase. Included in the concerns about health care costs are the efforts being aimed at funding the Social Security system. As more retirees put demands on the system with fewer workers funding it, we can expect alternative plans to be developed. We hear talk now of privatizing a portion of an individual’s account and of increasing the age of eligibility.

People are living longer. The length of time that a person will live in retirement can be as long as twenty years. An aging population will redefine what it means to be retired. People will work longer. As more people continue to invest their money in the stock market, the ranks of retirees in the future will be considerably more affluent than previous generations. We should expect our older population to be more involved in volunteering, religious activities, travel and recreation. We may indeed see our society develop an even more entertainment-oriented culture than we see today. Think about the kinds of products that will be marketed to an older population. What new kinds of drugs will be developed and targeted toward older consumers? How will an older population come to redefine leisure?