"It's a myth that senior adults no longer want to contribute.  It's equally untrue that senior adults don't want to be actively involved.  Senior adults do want to be involved."
(Dr. David P. Gallagher, Senior Adult Ministry in the 21st Century,Group 2002, pg. 61)

Consider these statistics regarding Senior Adults in America:

• According to the U.S. Census, more than 76 million Americans (more than 25 percent of the population) are fifty or older.
• By 2040, when the last baby boomers reach retirement age, 25 percent of the American population will be over sixty-five.
• Life expectancy recently climbed to seventy-five years of age.
• In 1988, Modern Maturity Magazine became the nation's number one magazine in circulation, passing Reader's Digest, Time Magazine and T.V. Guide.
• Two-thirds of all persons sixty-five or older who have ever lived are alive today!  American seniors now outnumber the entire population of Canada.
• Since 1900, ten years have been added to the median age of the U.S. population.
• Since 1950, the number of Americans over one hundred years has grown more than ten times.
• By 2080, the number of senior adults who are over the age of one hundred is expected to increase by a factor of 75.²
• In 1960, those 60 years old and over [of the world population] numbered 250 million (8.2 percent of the total population), and by 1980, the number had increased to 376 million (8.5 percent of the total).  Projections indicate that those 60 and over will number 600 million (almost 10% of the total) by the year 2000 and over 960 million by 2020 (12.5 percent of the total).

Taken from Senior Adult Ministry in the 21st Century by Dr. David P. Gallagher (Group Publishers, 2002)