A master class on the 85+ population by Colin Milner

What do we really know about people who are 85 years of age and older? Statistically, we know that the "oldest-old" are the fastest-growing segment of the older population worldwide, and that this demographic is now 52 times larger in the United States than it was in 1900: 6.4 million in 2016 versus approximately 122,000 in 1900. The United States Census Bureau also predicts that this demographic cohort will more than double, to 14.6 million, in 2040. While the numbers can inform us, they can't help us understand the human side of the oldest-old. This lack of knowledge can hamper efforts to develop and market products and services that appeal to adults 85 and older. I asked John Leland, an award-winning journalist with the New York Times and author of Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old, to sit down with me and share wisdom from his book with Journal on Active Aging readers.