The Northeast represents the region with the highest percentage of its population aged 65 and older at 14.1 percent, according to new 2010 U.S. Census data released Wednesday.
Connecticut also makes the top five states possessing the largest percent of the total population aged 85 and older. The Northeast’s elderly population is the highest percentage for any regional population in the country, although the Northeast has the smallest number of people living 65 and older. The large percentage of elderly reflects the region’s rapidly aging popluation. The South contained the largest total number of elderly, followed by the Midwest, West and Northeast.
Connecticut’s population of people aged 65 and older grew 4.9 percent from 2000 to 2010, second only to New Hampshire out of the New England states, which grew 6.5 percent. The total number of people in Connecticut aged 65 and older falls at 14.2 percent, 1.2 percent higher than the national average and .1 percent higher than the Northeast’s average.