The Nation - News from April 6, 1988

America’s population is older than ever, with maturing “baby boomers” and the growing number of elderly pulling the median age past 32 years for the first time, new Census Bureau figures showed. “The ‘Graying of America’ is . . . documented by its increasing age. The median age was 32.1 years on July 1, 1987,” bureau statistician Louisa Miller reported. Rising from 31.8 in 1986, it was the highest median age--the point at which half of all Americans are older than that age and half younger--in U.S. history. Racially, the median age for whites hit 33 for the first time, up from 32.7 in 1986. Black median age was 27.2 in 1987, up from 26.9 and the first time that group had surpassed 27. The bureau also reported the population of the United States increased to 243,915,000 on July 1, 1987--a 7.4% increase over the 227,061,000 people reported April 1, 1980.