‘Averages’ are misleading and dangerous (Part 2)

New population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that in 2006, the U.S. minority population topped 100 million for the first time in U.S. history. What is of more interest is way minorities are distributed across age groups. Click on image to view in a new window.

The new estimates show a growing racial/ethnic divergence between America’s elderly population and younger age groups, creating a new kind of generation gap in the United States. While the large majority of people over age 60 are non-Hispanic white, a substantial and growing proportion of young people are racial or ethnic.

For the next decade or so the US will have a predominantly non-Hispanic white older population being served by people from minority groups. The UK has exactly the same issue.

Come 2030 both groups are being to have a similar age profile.

Another example showing where just knowing the 'average' is next to useless. Dick Stroud