North Carolina aging faster than US, census data shows

RALEIGH, N.C. — America is getting older. The median age has increased – now up to 38.9 years old. Two decades ago, it was 35.4.

While North Carolina had that exact median age in 2000, it is aging quicker than the country now.

“Like all other high income countries in the world, fertility is below replacement,” said Dr. Nathan Dollar, the executive director of NC Demography at the University of North Carolina. “So if you have less people being born, that drives up the the age a structure of the population.”

In addition to that, he says most people who immigrate to the United States are younger and immigration trends have changed over time.

Dollar says looking at the distribution of where the oldest counties are is important as it gives those areas an idea of how to prepare.

The oldest counties are Brunswick (56.6), Clay (55.3), Polk (54.1), Pamlico (54.1) and Cherokee (53.7).

Since many are rural, he says they will need to assess their access to health care and evaluate their Emergency Management plans so people are able to aid older North Carolinians in case of a natural disaster.

“We have to plan and prepare for caring for older North Carolinians’ creating communities where people can age with dignity, where they can live where they desire,” Dollar said. “There’s a whole movement for aging in place and for people to have healthy lives.”

Dollars says what is interesting about North Carolina is just how many of our counties have median ages at or above the state’s. The majority – 81 – are older than the state’s 39.2 years old median.

“That means that there’s fewer young people, fewer working people,” Dollar said.

That begs the question: What will our economy look like?

Dollar said that is what everyone is trying to determine – how an aging population affects the economy and how we address that. Since the majority of our states have median ages above the national and state median ages, Dollars says our leaders need to be considering policies now so w can prepare for the future.

“I think we should be planning yesterday,” he joked. “We should certainly already be planning and putting the pieces in place.”

The United States isn’t the first country to experience an aging population. Dollar says looking at other countries’ policies will be helpful when exploring how to address our needs here. He points out that loneliness is an issue among many older people.

The median means right in the middle. Some counties have fairly young median ages. Those include locations where our military bases are located.

Onslow county – home to Camp Lejune – is one of just seven counties with the resident populations of at least 100,000 had a median age below 30. The median age there is 27.6 years old.