As the United States and the rest of the world face the unprecedented challenge of aging populations, this volume draws together for the first time state-of-the-art work from the emerging field of the demography of aging. The nine chapters, written by experts from a variety of disciplines, highlight data sources and research approaches, results, and proposed strategies on a topic with major policy implications for labor forces, economic well-being, health care, and the need for social and family supports.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
1 Introduction
2 The Formal Demography of Population Aging, Transfers, and the Economic Life Cycle
3 Retirement and Labor Force Behavior of the Elderly
4 Income, Wealth, and Intergenerational Economic Relations of the Aged
5 The Elderly and Their Kin: Patterns of Availability and Access
6 Care of the Elderly: Division of Labor Among the Family, Market, and State
7 Medical Demography: Interaction of Disability Dynamics and Mortality
8 Socioeconomic Differences in Adult Mortality and Health Status
9 Geographic Concentration, Migration, and Population Redistribution Among the Elderly
10 Research on the Demography of Aging in Developing Countries
Appendix: Letter to Richard Suzman of the National Institute on Aging from the Committee on Population, March 2, 1993