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Growing old in Illinois

There are more than 1.9 million Illinoisans age 60 or older, a 23 percent increase in the past 20 years, according to the state Department on Aging. The elderly population is projected to grow by another 41 percent by 2020.

Census figures from 1990 show that more than a quarter million Illinoisans over age 60 live below the poverty line, notes "Profile of Illinois' Elderly: A Fast-Changing Demography," a recent report of the department, from which the information for the charts on this page was derived. The percent of older persons in poverty has dropped significantly in the past three decades — 14.2 percent in 1990 compared with 35 percent in 1959. Still, the elderly in Illinois are more likely than other adults to be poor.

Donald Sevener

34/June 1994/lllinois Issues