American Indian Culture and Research Journal

It is estimated that by the year 2030, approximately one in five individuals in the United States will be age sixty-five or older. For American Indians, the elder population is the fastest-growing cohort with an estimated one to two million elders reaching the age of sixty-five years or older by the year 2050. As these older cohorts grow in number, so does the possibility that many will experience abuse or neglect leading to early death or disability. Elder abuse continues to grow as a national public concern. Because there are numerous methods of sampling and surveying and several definitions of abuse, the best estimates of elder abuse report that between one to two million elders over the age of sixty-five have been mistreated by someone upon whom they depend for care or protection. Little is known, however, about the abuse of elders in minority populations. Even less is known about elder abuse, barriers to care, and social service needs of elders in American Indian communities. Because of the baby boom generation (birth rates that occurred between 1946 and 1964) and increases in the average life expectancy, it is estimated that in 2050 nearly 21 percent of the US population will be elders over the age of sixty-five. This is up from the current 12.4 percent currently documented by the census. In 2000, there were nearly three hundred thousand American Indian and Alaska Native elders over the age of sixty-five compared to a total of thirty-five million elders in the United States. Likewise, the American Indian population is reported to be one of the fastest-growing populations in the nation. Compared to whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, it is expected that American Indians will have the largest percent change in the population. By 2050, the American Indian population is predicted to double.