Research Shows U.S. is Unprepared for Aging Population
CEE Associate Professor Qi “Ryan” Wang found disparities in access to grocery stores and healthcare in the United States for older adults, which could potentially lead to issues for the aging population.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cody Mello-Klein. Main photo: “At this stage, we are not ready for the aging population,” says Ryan Wang, associate professor and vice chair for research of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University.
The US is not ready for its aging population. New Northeastern research explains why
America is aging, and it’s not ready, according to new research.
With the country getting older, researchers at Northeastern University set out to investigate whether access to essential services like grocery stores, health care and housing are equally accessible for America’s aging population.
They not only found disparities in access but, more worryingly, a gap in infrastructure and policy to help America’s aging population now and in the future.
“At this stage, we are not ready for the aging population,” says Ryan Wang, an associate professor and vice chair for research of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern.
“Population aging is not a critical social issue at this point in the U.S. compared to some other countries — Korea, Japan, some European countries — but that does not mean that it will stay like this. … We predict that without a significant policy shift, many of the demands for the aging population in the society will not be met.”
Aging population faces inconsistent access to services
Using a massive amount of mobility and demographic data, including visitation patterns based on GPS, U.S. census data and environmental data from the Environmental Protection Agency, researchers were able to assess how easily aging populations in communities nationwide could access specific points of interest. This primarily included grocery stores, health care facilities and housing service providers.
By analyzing all this data, they categorized communities as either high-aging, where over 50% of residents are 65 or over, or low-aging, with under 20% of residents 65 or over. They then were able to track how many visits residents of those communities made to certain points of interest. If a high-aging community made a certain amount of visits to essential service providers within a 5-mile radius, it was considered accessible.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News