Schiavone, Christopher J.

Over the past century, the elderly have been a growing proportion of the total population in the United States. Due to this, geographers have given increasing amount of attention to the study of the elderly. One of the areas where geography has made substantial contributions is in examining the concentration and spatial distribution. Two processes effect the spatial distribution: aging in place and migration. Historically, the origin and destination streams of interstate migrants have been highly concentrated; however, the destinations are now becoming more diffuse.

In the past few decades social scientists have become increasingly interested in issues related to the nation's elderly. One important reason for this growing enthusiasm is the dramatic increase in the number of aged. At the tum of the century the elderly accounted for about 4% of the U.S. population. It reached 10% during the 1970s (Graff and Wiseman 1978) and presently the share of the elderly in the nation's population is approximately 12.5%. As the growth rate of the population continues to decrease and people Jive longer, wi thin a couple of decades into the 21st century the share of the nation's elderly in the total population is projected to reach 20(10 (Graff and Wiseman 1978; U.S. Census Bureau 1995).