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Inreasing Elderly Population - 7/22/16

Two states, Maine and Florida, will probably end twenty sixteen with more elderly residents than children.  That’s unprecedented in U.S history, but which will soon be replicated in a number of other U.S. states.  As reported by the Wall Street Journal, newly released Census Bureau estimates that pertain to July twenty fifteen indicate that a year ago, Maine was home to just two percent more children under the age of eighteen than adults aged sixty five or older. 

Florida has about four percent more children than adults aged sixty five or greater.  As recently as twenty ten, the respective margins were thirty percent and twenty three percent, but the number of older adults has simply skyrocketed.  Nationally, there were fifty four percent more children than older adults as of last year.  Low birth rates have contributed to demographic inversions in both Maine and Florida, but there are other factors at work. 

For instance, Maine loses many young adults to cities like Boston and New York, but older residents exhibit a preference to age in place.  Large number of retirees are moving to Florida, which adds to the elderly population.  The state recorded fewer births in twenty fourteen than it did a decade earlier, in part because the Hispanic birth rate in Florida has dropped dramatically in recent years.   

Anirban Basu, Chariman Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group (SPG), is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's leading economic consultants. Prior to founding SPG he was Chairman and CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a company he co-founded and which continues to operate. Anirban has also served as Director of Applied Economics and Senior Economist for RESI, where he used his extensive knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic region to support numerous clients in their strategic decision-making processes. Clients have included the Maryland Department of Transportation, St. Paul Companies, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee and the Martin O'Malley mayoral campaign.