Mayor Walsh’s Elderly Commission releases “Aging in Boston”

Mayor Walsh’s Elderly Commission releases “Aging in Boston”

Report includes a demographic profile of the City’s fastest growing population and

the City’s next steps

Boston – Today Mayor Martin J. Walsh released “Aging in Boston,” a comprehensive report on Boston seniors  produced by the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly in collaboration with the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the Gerontology Institute of the University of Massachusetts Boston.  In addition, Mayor Walsh announced that the City of Boston will join the World Health Organization’s Age Friendly Cities Network.
“The over 60 population is growing rapidly in Boston. In fact, by 2030 one out of every five residents of Boston will be over the age of 60,” said Mayor Walsh. “This population has a strong legacy in Boston and they continue to contribute in important ways to life in the city. Yet too many of our seniors still struggle day to day as they face difficulties in maintaining their ability to continue to live independently.”
“At the University of Massachusetts Boston we are committed to developing a growing body of knowledge that will address the wellbeing of New England’s older residents,” said Chancellor J. Keith Motley. “We are honored to collaborate with the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly on this report, and we look forward to continuing to work together with the City of Boston.”
Research staff at the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston performed all calculations and generated the report based on publicly available data obtained from the United States Census Bureau, the Boston Public Health Commission, and from the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). Projections for the Boston population were generated by the UMass Donahue Institute and by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).

The report includes information related to the welfare of older adults in Boston with data on age, gender, race, education, as well as income, housing situation, mobility, and health and disabilities. The report highlights an increasingly diverse senior community where nearly one in five older adults speak little to no English and live in linguistically isolated households. While many seniors have the resources they need as they age, 75 percent of Boston seniors living alone have incomes insufficient to meet their expenses. Additionally, while there are many Boston residents who are still healthy and thriving, 50 percent of residents age 80 and over don’t have access to a vehicle and one out of five seniors age 60 to 70 report ambulatory difficulties.

Today Mayor Walsh also announced that the City of Boston will join the World Health Organization’s Age Friendly Cities Network to better prepare Boston for the growth in the over 60 population.  In joining the network, Boston makes a commitment to create environments that promote healthy and active aging and a good quality of life for older residents. Over the next five years, the City will work with partners to assess its “age friendliness,” and then create and implement a three-year action plan.
“We are excited to finally have Boston specific data on this population. We look forward to working with our partner agencies to utilize this data to plan for Boston’s growing and diverse older adult population,” stated Elderly Commissioner Emily Shea. “We are one of the first cities in Massachusetts to join the WHO Age Friendly Cities and we are eager to get started and make Boston an even better place to grow older.”
To view the full report, visit the City of Boston’s Elderly Commission website at www.cityofboston.gov/elderly.