The Growing Problem of Chronic Disease Among the Aged

In recent years a great deal has been said and written about the problem of aging. It has been pointed out that the older persons among our population are increasing in number and in percentage of the total and that we are therefore facing serious economic, sociologic, and medical problems. This increase in the proportion of our population in the higher age brackets is attributed to three factors: (1) the virtual cessation of immigration nearly 30 years ago, (2) the long continued decline in the birth rate until the upturn that commenced about 1936, and (3) the steadily increasing longevity of our people. The economic problem of providing for the aged has increased not only as a result of the growing number of older citizens and their proportion to the total but also because of the gradual change in our economy from that of a primarily agrarian to a highly