Age Data of the United States

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The Older Population in the United States: March 2002
Detailed Tables (PPL-167)

These tables present data on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the civilian noninstitutionalized population aged 55 years and over in the United States, based on the results of the Annual Demograhpic Supplement to the March 2002 Current Population Survey (CPS). Topics covered include geographic distribution, age and sex distribution, marital status, household type and size, educational attainment, labor force status, employment status, occupational characteristics, family income, and poverty status. Data are presented for the United States. Tables 1-5 and 7-21 provide data for the population aged 55 years and over and table 6 provides data on family type by size and age of householder for the population aged 65 years and over.

A paper version of these tables is available as PPL-167 for $22.10. To receive a paper copy of this tabulation, send your request along with a check or money order in the amount of $22.10 for PPL-167, payable to Commerce-Census-88-00-9010, to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, P.O. Box 277943, Atlanta, GA, 30384-7943, or call our Statistical Information Office on 301-763-2422. Please be certain to specify which PPL you are requesting. A copy of these tabulations will be made available to any existing CPR P-20 subscriber without charge, provided that the request is made within 3 months of the issue date of this report. Contact our Statistical Information Office at 301-763-2422.

NOTE: Percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; therefore, the percentages in a distribution do not always add to exactly 100 percent. The totals, however, are always shown as 100. Moreover, individual figures are rounded to the nearest thousand without being adjusted to group totals, which are independently rounded; percentages are based on the unrounded numbers.

Symbols Used in the Tables

-      Represents zero or rounds to zero.

Source of the Data

The population represented (the population universe) in the Annual Demographic Supplement to the March 2002 Current Population Survey is the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Members of the Armed Forces living off post or with their families on post are included if there is at least one civilian adult living in the household. (Starting in 2001, the Annual Demographic Supplement includes some data collected in February and April.) The institutionalized population, which is excluded from the population universe, is composed primarily of the population in correctional institutions and nursing homes (91 percent of the 4.1 million institutionalized population in Census 2000).

Accuracy of the Estimates

The data in the detailed tables (PPL-167) are from the March 2002 Current Population Survey. Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. All comparisons presented in this report have taken sampling error into account and are significant at the 90-percent confidence level. This means the 90-percent confidence interval for the difference between the estimates being compared does not include zero. Nonsampling errors in surveys may be attributed to a variety of sources, such as how the survey was designed, how respondents interpret questions, how able and willing respondents are to provide correct answers, and how accurately the answers are coded and classified. The Census Bureau employs quality control procedures throughout the production process including the overall design of surveys, the wording of questions, review of the work of interviewers and coders, and statistical review of reports to minimize these errors.

The Current Population Survey weighting procedure uses ratio estimation whereby sample estimates are adjusted to independent estimates of the national population by age, race, sex and Hispanic origin. This weighting partially corrects for bias due to undercoverage, but biases may still be present when people who are missed by the survey differ from those interviewed in ways other than age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin. How this weighting procedure affects other variables in the survey is not precisely known. All of these considerations affect comparisons across different surveys or data sources.

For further information on statistical standards and the computation and use of standard errors go to http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/ads/2002/S&A_02.pdf, or contact Anessah N. Stephenson of the Census Bureau's Demographic Statistical Methods Division on the Internet at: dsmd.source.and.accuracy@census.gov.

Detailed Tables

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