Fast Facts About Grandparents

  • The average age of first-time grandparents is 48.
  • About one-third of American adults are grandparents.
  • The United States has 70 million grandparents, and the total will be 80 million by 2010 as the Baby Boom generation of 76 million people (born between 1946 and 1964) become grandparents.
  • The number of children living with and/or being cared for by their grandparents has increased by 30 percent over the last decade.
  • More than 6 percent of America's children live with their grandparents today.
  • America's grandparents spend more than $30 billion a year on their grandkids, double what was spent a decade ago.
  • In the past 30 years, the number of great-grandparents actively involved in their great-grandchildren's lives has increased tenfold.

Fast Facts About Mature Voters

  • People 55 or older are 21 percent of the entire U.S. population - 59.6 million people in 2002. This equals the populations of New York, California and Massachusetts combined.
  • The number of Americans 65 and older alone is expected to be 20 percent of the population by 2030, or 71.5 million, double the current count.
  • In the 2000 presidential election, 70 percent of people 55 to 64 voted, as did 72 percent of those 65 to 74, compared to 32 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds.
  • An October 2003 survey by Lake Snell Perry & Associates and the Tarrance Group shows 88 percent of older voters say they would prefer a candidate who listens to young voters over one who focuses on older people like them.
  • An AARP 2004 survey asked voters over 55 in the New Hampshire Primary about issues very important to them in selecting a presidential candidate. Overwhelmingly, they favor issues critical to future generations: they ranked strengthening the economy and creating jobs (79%) and improving education (61%) over strengthening and preserving traditional Medicare (59%), or expanding Medicare to cover prescription drugs (56%).

Sources: AARP, American Demographics, Census Bureau, NDP Group, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Travel Industry Association of America, Roper Organization.