In 1970, some 7.5 billion U.S. dollars were spent on the Medicare program in the United States. Fifty plus years later, this figure stood at 1,037 billion U.S. dollars. This statistic depicts total Medicare spending from 1970 to 2023.

Increasing Medicare coverage

Medicare is the federal health insurance program in the U.S. for the elderly and those with disabilities. In the U.S., the share of the population with any type of health insurance has increased to over 90 percent in the past decade. As of 2019, approximately 18 percent of the U.S. population was covered by Medicare in particular.

Increasing Medicare costs

Medicare costs are forecasted to continue increasing over time, with outlays rising to a predicted 1.78 trillion U.S. dollars by 2031 as the population continues to age. Certain diseases of old age, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are increasing in prevalence in the U.S., which will reflect on healthcare costs for the elderly. In 2021, Alzheimer's disease was estimated to cost Medicare and Medicaid around 239 billion U.S. dollars in care costs; by 2050, this number is projected to climb to 798 billion dollars.

Data derived from weekly public opinion polls in the Netherlands in 1970 concerning social and political issues. Samples were drawn from the Dutch population aged 18 years and older.

All data from the surveys held between 1962 and 2000 are available in the DANS data collections.

Background variables:
Sex / age / religion / income / vote recall latest elections / party preference / level of education / union membership / professional status / < self > left-right rating / party alignment / province / degree of urbanization / weight factor.

Topical variables:
n7002: Broadcasting corporations having the best radio and TV program / Sympathy for particular broadcasting corporation / Having a subscription to a radio and TV guide.
n7010: Opinions on reasons for a divorce / Adaptation of divorce legislation.
n7011: Attitude towards recognition of the German Democratic Republic / Objectionable sex in cinema, on stage, on TV, in magazines / Preferred age for sex education / Sex education at primary schools and nursery schools / Prohibition on the selling of pornographic reading matter, for adults as well as minors.
n7012: Should the government < De Jong > stay until the 1971 parliamentary elections / Extension of the suffrage to 18 years / Women liberation action group < Dolle Mina's >.
n7013: Rain of titles on the Queen's birthday / Special liberation silver coin < 10 guilders > / Combination of political parties at parliamentary elections < 1971 >.
n7017: Housing need problems in general / Respondent's housing need problems / Respondent's housing situation.
n7019: Intermarriage Catholics and Protestants / Quality education by parents past and present / Members of family having beard, moustache, whiskers.
n7022: Knowing specific political leaders / Confidence specific political leaders.
n7023: Religious questions like belief in God, devil, heaven, hell, purgatory, life after death / Should the government < De Jong > stay until the 1971 parliamentary elections / Preferred politicians in next government / Preference for continuation of the present government < De Jong > after the elections.
n7025: Whether there's racial discrimination in the Netherlands / Minimum and maximum speed limits for cars / Most admired living person < members royal family excluded >.
n7026: Extent of difference between progressiveness and conservatism / Progressiveness and conservatism of political parties / self rating concerning progressiveness and conservatism / Definition of progressive - and conservative politics.
n7027: Knowledge of and sympathy for football clubs / Planned visits to football matches / Watching football matches on television / Reading about football matches in Monday newspapers / Biased commentaries on political, social and economic events at television and in newspapers.
n7028: Belief in palm reading, astrology, clairvoyance, casting horoscopes / Successful people/ luck or abilities / Whether military expenditures should be raised or not.
n7036: Visit of the Indonesian president Suharto.
n7038: The queen's speech at the opening of the parliamentary year / Government budget-policy / When and where respondent spent holidays, in the Netherlands or abroad.
n7039: Whether the United Nations Organization < UNO > should become a more powerful organization / Constitution of a United Nations Organization < UNO > peace army of 100.000 soldiers.
n7042: Alliance of two Christian political parties < ARP and CHU > in one Christian political party / Alliance of three Christian political parties < ARP, CHU and KVP > into one political party.
n7043: See file Standard_and_topical_variables_N704243.pdf
n7046: Computer registration of individuals.
n7052: Christmas celebration/ having a Christmas tree, church-attendance at Christmas night / Expectations concerning income in 1971 / Respondent's present income compared with income in last year / Cash limit strike initiated by the unions / Recent income measures by the government.

The aim of this data collection was to gauge the impact of legalized casino gambling on the level and spatial distribution of crime in the Atlantic City region by comparing crime rates before and after the introduction of this type of gambling in the area. Data for the years 1972 through 1984 were collected from various New Jersey state publications for 64 localities and include information on population size and density, population characteristics of race, age, per capita income, education and home ownership, real estate values, number of police employees and police expenditures, total city expenditure, and number of burglaries, larcenies, robberies and vehicle thefts. Spatial variables include population attributes standardized by land area in square miles, and measures of accessibility, location, and distance from Atlantic City. For the 1970/1980 data file, additional variables pertaining to population characteristics were created from census data to match economic and crime attributes found in the 1972-1984 data. Data on eight additional locations are available in the 1970/1980 file.

The purpose of the Health Interview Survey is to obtain information about the amount and distribution of illness, its effects in terms of disability and chronic impairments, and the kinds of health services people receive. There are five types of records in this core survey, each in a separate data file. The variables in the Household file (Part 1) include type of living quarters, size of family, number of families in the household, presence of a telephone, number of unrelated individuals, and region. The Person file (Part 2) includes information on sex, age, race, marital status, Hispanic origin, education, veteran status, family income, family size, major activities, health status, activity limits, employment status, and industry and occupation. These variables are found in the Condition, Doctor Visit, and Hospital Episode files as well. The Person file also supplies data on height, weight, bed days, doctor visits, hospital stays, years at residence, and region variables. The Condition file (Part 3) contains information for each reported health condition, with specifics on injury and accident reports. The Hospital Episode file (Part 4) provides information on medical conditions, hospital episodes, type of service, type of hospital ownership, date of admission and discharge, number of nights in hospital, and operations performed. The Doctor Visit file (Part 5) documents doctor visits within the time period and identifies acute or chronic conditions. The Health Insurance file (Part 6) includes information on education level, family income, hospital visits and length of stay, and also data on medical coverage, hospital coverage, medicare coverage, and doctor visit coverage. The Medical Care Cost file (Part 7) includes information on hospital bill expenses, doctor and dental bill expenses, optical bill expenses, and total personal and family expenses. The X-Ray file (Part 8) includes information on x-ray records, doctor visits, height, weight, and total medical x-ray visits.

1. Media-technical equipment of household and media usage habits, extent of print media and electronic media. 2. leisure time and communication activities.

Topics: 1. media: number of television sets and color television sets in household as well as devices equiped with remote control and teletext; possession of videorecorder, camcorder, video games and 8-mm camera, record player, tape recorder, cassette recorder and Walkman; number of radios in household; opportunity to receive FM frequencies; opportunity to receive first, second as well as third TV program and foreign TV programs; frequency of watching television; paying attention to regional early-evening programs; type and frequency of broadcasts and stations; personally preferred television broadcasts, radio broadcasts and newspaper articles; subjective indispensibility of selected topics and categories on television, radio and in newspapers; method of fee payment for broadcasters under public law; knowledge about amount of monthly broadcast fees; subscription to daily newspapers; reasons for possibly canceling a newspaper subscription; knowledge about monthly subscription price; reading habits with newspapers; radio listening habits (station, broadcasts, frequencies); time budget for media usage (third and foreign programs) in hourly rhythm; assessment of credibility of individual media; main source of information on daily events; judgement on specific characteristics of television, radio and newspapers as well as general attitude to these media (scales); personally preferred media and television as well as radio programs as well as newspaper categories; assessment of objectivity of reporting in television, radio, daily newspaper and magazines (scale) and assumed orientation of political broadcasts on special interest groups or parties; ties with media.

1. leisure time and communication activities: leisure activities on previous day; interest in politics; postmaterialism (scale); satisfaction with political order in the FRG and life at place of residence; local ties; importance of areas of life. Demography: position of respondent in household; sex; age; school education; marital status; religious affiliation; employment; status in profession; unemployment; income; net household income; size of household; number of children in household; possession of a telephone; memberships; number of rooms in residence; state; administrative district; size of municipality classes. Indices: intensity of media usage. summarized values for leisure activities and media usage.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that prescription drug expenditure in the United States will reach around 460 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. This amount includes only retail drug spending, excluding nonretail. Estimations of drug spending can vary by investigating organization. For the U.S., among the most relevant drug spending calculations are provided by CMS, ASPE (Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation), and pharmaceutical market researcher IQVIA. High drug prices in the U.S.The United States is the country with the highest total drug spending, and also with the highest per capita pharmaceuticals spending among developed countries. This is mostly connected to higher drug prices in the United States. For example, the price for the blockbuster drug Humira was almost three times higher in the United States than in Germany in 2017. But whereas in other countries, governments more or less directly control drug prices, the U.S. leaves drug pricing to market competition. As a consequence, the U.S. market is the most profitable for pharmaceutical companies. Where the money is spentNearly half of all Americans have taken at least one prescription medicine within the preceding month. The therapeutic areas where spending is the highest are ‘traditionally’ to be found among antidiabetics, oncologics, autoimmune, and respiratory diseases. Based on number of prescriptions filled, antihypertensives, pain reliever, and mental health drugs are the leading classes.

Since 1970, the median age of China’s population has continued to increase from around ** years to around **** years in 2020. According to estimates from the United Nations, the increasing trend will slow down when the median age will reach ** years in the middle of the 21st century and will remain at around ** years up to 2100. China’s aging population Although the median age of China’s population is still lower than in many developed countries, for example in Japan, the consequences of a rapidly aging population have already become a concern for the country’s future. As the most populated country in the world, the large labor force in China contributed to the country’s astonishing economic growth in the last decades. Nowadays however, the aging population is going to become a burden for China’s social welfare system and could change China’s economic situation. Reasons for the aging population Like in many other countries, increasing life expectancy is regarded as the main reason for the aging of the population. As healthcare and living standards have improved, life expectancy in China has also increased. In addition, the one-child policy led to a decreasing fertility rate in China, which further increased the share of older people in the society. Even though the one-child policy has been abolished in 2016, many young people are refraining from having children, largely due to the high costs of raising a child, career pressure and the pursuit of freedom.

The median age in Vietnam was 31 years in 2020, meaning that half the population was younger than this at the time, and half older. This figure has increased since its low point in 1970, which was likely due to the Vietnam War. The median age is expected to increase to 49.3 years by 2100. Age structure The age structure in Vietnam changes slowly as people get older. This suggests that other demographic indicators are also slow to evolve, which in turn points to stability. This fact is convenient for policy makers, who can then rely on a consistent ratio of pensioners and students to workers. This is helpful in taxation and allocation of government spending. However, it also points to slow inprovement in indicators such as life expectancy. Economic implications Given Vietnam’s Communist government, it is not surprising that a large portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) comes from government expenditures. As such, the country needs a broad tax base. Since people’s earning potential rises with age until they retire, a relatively high median age is necessary to bear this tax burden. A low unemployment rate further bolsters this effect. This implies that the current demographic situation in Vietnam is sustainable.

Throughout United States history, voter turnout among the voting eligible population has varied, ranging from below twelve percent in uncontested elections, to 83 percent in the 1876 election. In early years, turnout in presidential elections was relatively low, as the popular vote was not used in every state to decide who electors would vote for. When this was changed in the 1824 election, turnout increased dramatically, and generally fluctuated between seventy and eighty percent during the second half of the nineteenth century. Until the 1840 and 1842 elections, midterm elections also had a higher turnout rate than their corresponding presidential elections, although this trend has been reversed since these years.

Declining turnout in the twentieth century An increase in voting rights, particularly for black males in 1870 and for women in 1920, has meant that the share of the total population who are legally eligible to vote has increased significantly; yet, as the number of people eligible to vote increased, the turnout rate generally decreased. Following enfranchisement, it would take over fifty years before the female voter turnout would reach the same level as males, and over 150 years before black voters would have a similar turnout rate to whites. A large part of this was simply the lack of a voting tradition among these voter bases; however, the Supreme Court and lawmakers across several states (especially in the south) created obstacles for black voters and actively enforced policies and practices that disenfranchised black voter participation. These practices were in place from the end of the Reconstruction era (1876) until the the Voting Rights Act of 1965 legally removed and prohibited many of these obstacles; nonetheless, people of color continue to be disproportionally affected by voting restrictions to this day.

Recent decades In 1971, the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the minimum voting age in most states from 21 to 18 years old, which greatly contributed to the six and eight percent reductions in voter turnout in the 1972 and 1974 elections respectively, highlighting a distinct correlation between age and voter participation. Overall turnout remained below sixty percent from the 1970s until the 2004 election, and around forty percent in the corresponding midterms. In recent elections, increased political involvement among younger voters and those from ethnic minority backgrounds has seen these numbers rise, with turnout in the 2018 midterms reaching fifty percent. This was the highest midterm turnout in over one hundred years, leading many at the time to predict that the 2020 election would see one of the largest and most diverse voter turnouts in the past century, although these predictions then reversed with the arival of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, 2020 did prove to have the highest turnout in any presidential election since 1900; largely as a result of mail-in voting, improved access to early voting, and increased activism among grassroots organizations promoting voter registration.

The unemployment rate of the United Kingdom was 4.6 percent in April 2025, an increase from the previous month. Before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK had relatively low levels of unemployment, comparable with the mid-1970s. Between January 2000 and the most recent month, unemployment was highest in November 2011 when the unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent. Will unemployment continue to rise in 2025? Although low by historic standards, there has been a noticeable uptick in the UK's unemployment rate, with other labor market indicators also pointing to further loosening. In December 2024, the number of job vacancies in the UK, fell to its lowest level since May 2021, while payrolled employment declined by 47,000 compared with November. Whether this is a continuation of a broader cooling of the labor market since 2022, or a reaction to more recent economic developments, such as upcoming tax rises for employers, remains to be seen. Forecasts made in late 2024 suggest that the unemployment rate will remain relatively stable in 2025, averaging out at 4.1 percent, and falling again to four percent in 2026.
Demographics of the unemployed As of the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate for men was slightly higher than that of women, at 4.4 percent, compared to 4.1 percent. During the financial crisis at the end of the 2000s, the unemployment rate for women peaked at a quarterly rate of 7.7 percent, whereas for men, the rate was 9.1 percent. Unemployment is also heavily associated with age, and young people in general are far more vulnerable to unemployment than older age groups. In late 2011, for example, the unemployment rate for those aged between 16 and 24 reached 22.3 percent, compared with 8.2 percent for people aged 25 to 34, while older age groups had even lower peaks during this time.

The statistic shows the total population of India from 2019 to 2029. In 2023, the estimated total population in India amounted to approximately 1.43 billion people.

Total population in India

India currently has the second-largest population in the world and is projected to overtake top-ranking China within forty years. Its residents comprise more than one-seventh of the entire world’s population, and despite a slowly decreasing fertility rate (which still exceeds the replacement rate and keeps the median age of the population relatively low), an increasing life expectancy adds to an expanding population. In comparison with other countries whose populations are decreasing, such as Japan, India has a relatively small share of aged population, which indicates the probability of lower death rates and higher retention of the existing population.

With a land mass of less than half that of the United States and a population almost four times greater, India has recognized potential problems of its growing population. Government attempts to implement family planning programs have achieved varying degrees of success. Initiatives such as sterilization programs in the 1970s have been blamed for creating general antipathy to family planning, but the combined efforts of various family planning and contraception programs have helped halve fertility rates since the 1960s. The population growth rate has correspondingly shrunk as well, but has not yet reached less than one percent growth per year.

As home to thousands of ethnic groups, hundreds of languages, and numerous religions, a cohesive and broadly-supported effort to reduce population growth is difficult to create. Despite that, India is one country to watch in coming years. It is also a growing economic power; among other measures, its GDP per capita was expected to triple between 2003 and 2013 and was listed as the third-ranked country for its share of the global gross domestic product.

The typical American picture of a family with 2.5 kids might not be as relevant as it once was: In 2023, there was an average of 1.94 children under 18 per family in the United States. This is a decrease from 2.33 children under 18 per family in 1960.

Familial structure in the United States

If there’s one thing the United States is known for, it’s diversity. Whether this is diversity in ethnicity, culture, or family structure, there is something for everyone in the U.S. Two-parent households in the U.S. are declining, and the number of families with no children are increasing. The number of families with children has stayed more or less constant since 2000.

Adoptions in the U.S.

Families in the U.S. don’t necessarily consist of parents and their own biological children. In 2021, around 35,940 children were adopted by married couples, and 13,307 children were adopted by single women.