Urban and Rural Dimensions of Global Population Aging: An Overview

In keeping with the worldwide pattern of increased urbanization, the elderly population has become more concentrated in urban areas during the past 50 years. In developed countries as a whole, an estimated 73 percent of people aged 65 or over lived in urban areas in 1990, a figure that is projected to reach 80 percent by the year 2015. In developing nations, which are still predominantly rural, just over one-third of people aged 65 or over lived in urban areas in 1990, projected to exceed one-half by 2015. This article provides an overview of global data on urban elders, examines extant data on gender balances and migration patterns, and considers the importance of subnational urban/rural differences and whether rural elderly are disadvantaged relative to their urban counterparts.