Updated August 2025

Much has been written recently about the “graying” of the world’s population. The number of people in the world who are older than 65 now exceeds the number who are younger than five. According to Pew Research Center, the percentage of people in the world who are under 25 will roughly equal the percentage who are 65 or older in 2100.

The health and wellness of the boomer generation has far-reaching implications for the cost of health care, housing needs and who will take care of society’s old. With 11,400 Baby Boomers in the United States turning 65 each day, it’s critical to keep them healthy and active.

Baby Boomers at Risk

According to the Social Security Administration, people turning 64 in 2022 had a remaining life expectancy of 18 years, while people turning 55 had a remaining life expectancy of 25 years. Thanks in part to the pandemic, those figures are a bit worse than they were a decade earlier. According to the CDC:

• 27% of Americans age 60 or older have diabetes
• 65% of Americans age 60 or older have hypertension
• 42% of Americans age 60 or older are obese

And not only are Baby Boomers more obese than the previous generation, they became more obese at an earlier age, and women in their 50s are the most likely to be obese (America’s Health Rankings).

The use of medications is no less startling for this generation. As the CDC reports, among adults age 60–79, the most commonly used prescription drugs in the United States are:

• lipid-lowering drugs (45.0%)
• antidiabetic agents (23.6%)
• beta blockers for high blood pressure or heart disease (22.3%)
• ACE inhibitors (21.3%)
• proton pump inhibitors (16.9%).

The Costs of Health Care

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, total personal healthcare expenditures in the United States amounted to $4.9 trillion in 2023, up from $2.5 trillion in 2013. In 2023, healthcare expenditures averaged $14,570 per person. The annual growth in expenditures was:

• Medicare 8.1% (representing 21% of total healthcare spending),
• Medicaid 7.9% (18% of healthcare spending)
• Private health insurance 11.5% (30% of healthcare spending)
• Out-of-pocket spending 7.2% (10% of healthcare spending)

Boomers and Mobility

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a national snapshot of health measures and behaviors conducted by the U.S. government, compared Baby Boomers aged 46 years to 64 years between 2007 and 2010 to similar aged Americans in 1988 to 1994. Overall, only 13% of baby boomers rated their health as ‘excellent’ while nearly three times as many (32%) of those in the previous generation considered themselves in excellent health. Seven percent of baby boomers use a cane or other device to help them walk, compared to 3% in the previous generation; and 13% of boomers have some limitations in their ability to perform their everyday tasks compared to 8.8% of those in the earlier cohort.

Health and Nutrition

According to the 2020- 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans , the challenge of meeting dietary needs will grow as older adults confront shrinking incomes and, potentially, fewer social contacts in their retirement years. While the study says it’s hard to predict how living on a fixed income will affect eating habits, it did find that many people have begun to limit fast food purchases because of concerns about high amounts of calories, sodium, and saturated fat. However, less income means less money to eat at places that may offer a wider array of healthful choices. The situation is made more complicated by the fact that many retirees would rather not cook a big meal if they are only cooking for themselves or one other person.

Boomers and Housing

Because the vast majority of baby boomers intend to “age in place”, accommodating this preference relies largely on communities planning for the current and future needs of this generation.

The Bipartisan Policy Center formed a Health and Housing Task Force to underscore the connection between the health care and housing fields. The task force grows out of the BPC Housing Commission that identified accommodating the desire of seniors to age in place as one of the major public-policy challenges in the coming decades.

A number of priorities were identified, including:

• Identify cost-effective ways to modify homes to make living for seniors safe & viable
• Increase the supply of affordable housing for seniors with supportive services
• Identify barriers to the integration of acute care and home & community-based services
• Highlight best practices for integrating housing and health care services

As much as Boomers might want to age in place, many must overcome formidable barriers to do so. Many seniors need outside help to continue aging in place. Some lack the physical ability to clean and maintain their homes. While some state Medicaid programs pay for homemaking services that allow individuals to age in place, recent Medicaid budget reductions may eliminate those subsidies if states cannot find other funding to pay for them.

Some seniors can only age in place with the help of caregivers who assist them with their activities of daily living. A nationwide shortage of caregivers is making it difficult for seniors to find the help they need, even when they have the resources to pay for in-home care services. Experts expect the shortage to worsen as Baby Boomers continue to grow older.

Unfortunately, disabling health conditions make it impossible for some seniors to age in place. Yet the caregiver shortage also affects senior care facilities, including assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. Combined with a crisis in affordable housing for seniors, Boomers may have difficulty aging in place or finding an affordable alternative to their current housing situation.

(This article was revised August, 2025.)