young for a developed nation, but by 2025 its older populationalong with that in the United States-will be one of the oldest older populations in the world.

SOURCE: Torrey, Barbara Boyle, Kevin G. Kinsella, and Cynthia M. Taueber, U.S. Bureau of the Census. "An Aging World"

EMPLOYMENT

SMALL PERCENTAGES OF PEOPLE IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD CONTINUE TO WORK AFTER AGE 65. OLDER PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE WORKING THAN THEY ARE IN OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD EXCEPT JAPAN

While the U.S. population has an early retirement pattern that is about average in the developed world, Americans are more likely to work after age 65 than are older people in other developed countries-with the exception of the Japanese (table 7-6 and chart 7-8). U.S. labor force participation rates for men at age 60-64 are significantly higher than in Italy, France, or West Germany, but are lower than in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, and Japan or in the developing world. However, U.S. labor force participation rates for females at age 60-64 are higher than any other developed country, except Japan and Sweden.

After age 65, U.S. labor force participation rates are significantly higher than other developed countries, with the exception of Japan. Japan's male and female labor force participation rates after 65 are unusually high-nearly half of the men (46 percent) and one-sixth of the women (16 percent) are still working.

In developing countries, where retirement systems are not prevalent, older men and women are more likely to remain in the labor force than their counterparts in developed countries.

TABLE 7-6.-LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES FOR THE ELDERLY BY SEX AND AGE GROUP IN SELECTED COUNTRIES: 1971-82

Source: Torrey, Barbara Boyle, Kevin G. Kinsella, and Cynthia M. Taueber, U.S. Bureau of the Census "An Aging World."

Chart 7-8

ELDERLY LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES BY SEX AND AGE GROUP

SOURCE: Torrey, Barbara Boyle, Kevin G. Kinsella, and Cynthia M. Taueber, U.S. Bureau of the Census. "An Aging World"

*See table 7-6 above for dates of data collection.

ECONOMIC STATUS 4

THE U.S. ELDERLY DERIVE A SMALLER PROPORTION OF THEIR INCOME FROM SOCIAL INSURANCE, AND A LARGER PROPORTION FROM EARNINGS AND FROM ASSETS, THAN THE ELDERLY IN SEVERAL OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

According to the Luxembourg Income Study of seven developed countries, only one-third (35 percent) of the income of younger elderly families (age 65 to 74) in the United States and Canada came from social insurance, compared to about half or more than half in

4 Data on economic status in the U.S. Bureau of the Census, "An Aging World." come from the Luxembourg Income Study. This study adjusted income data from 1979-81 from seven developed nations to internationally comparable formats to compare the economic status of the population. For more information on this study, see Centre d'Etudes de Populations, "An Introduction to the Luxembourg Income Study." LIS-CEPS Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 1, June 1985.

some other developed countries (table 7-7, chart 7-9). The same relationship is true for the older elderly. Less than half (45 percent) of the income of elderly age 75 and older in the United States and Canada came from social insurance, compared to over half to about three-quarters of the income of this age group in some other developed countries. Among all countries studied, only in Israel did social insurance play a smaller role in the incomes of the elderly than in the United States and Canada.

TABLE 7-7.-COMPOSITION OF GROSS INCOME OF ELDERLY FAMILIES BY INCOME TYPE, FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES: 1979-81

Source: Data taken from the Luxembourg Income Study as reported in Torrey, Barbara Boyle, Kevin G. Kinsella, and Cynthia M. Taueber, U.S. Bureau of the Census. "An Aging World."

Earnings and assets played a more significant role in the incomes of the elderly in the United States, Canada, and Israel than they did for the elderly in many other developed countries. However, Norway's younger elderly (65 to 74) derived a high proportion of their income from earnings, which in combination with social insurance payments accounted for 86 percent of their income.

Chart 7-9

COMPOSITION OF INCOME OF FAMILIES WITH HEADS AGE 65 TO 74

FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES: 1979-81*

SOURCE: Data taken from the Luxembourg Income Study as reported in Torrey, Barbara Boyle, Kevin G. Kinsella, and Cynthia M. Taueber, U.S. Bureau of the Census. "An Aging World"

POVERTY RATES AMONG THE ELDERLY IN THE UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, AND ISRAEL ARE AMONG THE HIGHEST IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD

5

According to the Luxembourg Income Study, the United States had one of the largest concentrations of relatively low-income elderly among the seven countries studied. When incomes were adjusted on an equivalent basis, one in five (20 percent) younger U.S. elderly (age 65 to 74) and more than one in four (28 percent) older U.S. elderly (age 75 and older) were in the low-income category. While the United Kingdom had a similar distribution of lowincome elderly, only Israel (among the countries studied) had a higher concentration of low-income elderly (table 7-8 and chart 710).

5 The Luxembourg Income Study compared national-level survey_income data from several countries that were adjusted to internationally comparable formats. Poverty rate is defined as a percent of families with equivalent net income (adjusted for family size) less than half of the median equivalent net income for families of all ages.