It has been referred to as the “Senior Tsunami,” the influx of Baby Boomers about to retire, and local advocates and older adults are mobilizing to prepare for the aging needs of nearly 25 percent of the United States’ population.
“The aging of society presents some really unique challenges and opportunities,” said Sarah Qualls, Ph.D., director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and a Baby Boomer herself. “Baby Boomers represent a very large lump in the snake and, at every turn, has an impact on community resources. They will undoubtedly change the way we think about aging.”
There are 83 million Baby Boomers (ages 45-63) in the U.S., about one-fourth of the population. Never before has such a large portion of the population been approaching retirement.
In Colorado in 2010, 25 percent of the population falls in the Baby Boomer category, individuals born between 1948 and 1964. In El Paso County, which is slightly younger than the state as a whole, Baby Boomers represent 23.9 percent of the population. There were 149,237 Baby Boomers in El Paso County in 2010, 11.6 percent of the state total.
And with numbers comes power and Qualls said this group demands consideration never before seen or addressed for the senior population.
“Longer life spans are changing the way people live their lives,” Qualls said. “This group is not as fiscally conservative, they value experiences over security. They live longer, they live healthy, and they want engagement. All of these factors and more are going to transform the way we think about and experience aging.”