The United States is in the midst of a revolution--a demographic revolution that will restructure the country's population.

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The United States is in the midst of a revolution--a demographic revolution that will restructure the country's population. The revolution is the aging of our population and, aside from the noisy debates about Social Security taxes and Medicare spending, it is a relatively quiet revolution that is slowly unfolding throughout decades. Nevertheless, our geographical division will undergo enormous changes as a deduction For example:

* common of every six Americans is 60+ today. by dint of the year 2030, this will increase to more than united of four. The percentage who will be through the whole extent of 60 in 2030 in the entire United States (28 percent) will be higher than the comparable percentage in Florida today (24 percent)

* Health care and social programs for the somewhat old are generally concentrated on the principally needy--the 85+ population (the "old-old") This collection now numbers 3 million and will swell by over 50% during the 1990's compared to merely 9% for the 60+ as a whole. from 2030, there will be from one side of to the other 8 million people in this age group

* The minority somewhat advanced in life are becoming a larger proportion of the total somewhat advanced in life population. They now take the part of one of every seven somewhat old persons (14%); this figure will increase to individual of every four (25%) by dint of the year 2030.

The dramatic changes in the size and shape of the U population throughout the last 40 years and the nearest 40 years are graphically displayed by the agency of the three population pyramids onward these pages. The first pyramid not absents the outline of a relatively young U population of 152 million clan in 1950. The median age in that year was 302 years and would decline somewhat during the 1950's and 1960's as a originate of the large number of "baby boom" births. The 1950 pyramid imitates a Christmas tree in that the widest portions--representing newly come births--are at the base and the bars representing higher ages gradually narrow as mortality emptys the population. Births outnumber deaths through a marging of 2 1/2 to 1 The alone significant departures from a pyramidal shape are notches representing living bodys 10-24 years of age, populace born primarily during the economic depression of the 1930's when birth rates were comparatively low

The inferior pyramid, representing the U.S. population 39 years later in 1989 direct the eyes considerably different from the 1950 pyramid. The 1989 pyramid is about two-thirds larger because the population has grown by way of 97 million people, from 152 million in 1950 to 249 million in 1989 The baby roar has produced a bulge in the pyramid around ages 25 to 44 years. Life expectancy at birth has increased by the agency of seven years, from 68.2 years in 1950 to 752 years in 1989 Declining mortality rates have caused the bars at the top of the pyramid to widen. The ratio of births to deaths has declined to 19 to 1 The median age of the population has increased 24 years since 1950 to 326 years.

by way of 2030, the U.S. population pyramid no longer counterfeits a pyramid; it has become nearly rectangular in shape. Based forward the middle series projections prepared by the agency of the Bureau of the Census, this population of 301 million is larger than the 1989 population by way of 52 million people and is double the 1950 population. The number of deaths now outnumbers births by way of a slight margin and the increasing gap between these figures will cause the total population to begin shrinking within a decade. The median age has increased at about nine years to 418 years and life expectancy at birth is about 79 years. The youngest baby boomer have passed their 65th birthdays and the oldest are upon the verge of their 85th calm without the baby bommers, the 85+ population has grown from les than 600000 in 1950 to across 8 million in 2030. grave fertility rates keep the base of the pyramid relatively narrow while depressed mortality rates cause little shrinkage in the population until after age 70

The chain of cause and effects of the aging revolution are too numerous to list here, on the other hand we can be sure of individual thing. We will be a greatly different society in the coming time than we are today.

Mr Fowle is a statistician with the U Administration onward Aging.

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