Using Lorenz Curves to Characterise Urban Elderly Populations

This study measures urban elderly distributions using Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients estimated from 1980 Census data. The results suggest ways that such summary measures can be used to examine population distributions among urban areas. The paper considers three metropolitan areas, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. The elderly are more concentrated in the central cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore than in Pittsburgh, even though the Pittsburgh SMSA has the largest elderly percentage of the three. The elderly and the poor elderly are more concentrated in Baltimore than in Philadelphia, and both are more concentrated than in Pittsburgh.