Assisted Living Statistics Are an Economic Pointer

Assisted living statistics helps understand how things are changing with regards to senior citizen assisted care. The change is something to look into as it does not merely give figures on this niche area but also gives us a peek into the changed environment that senior citizens today live in.

In the 1990s, when this concept began there was just a handful of these emerging service providers in the market. And the rules were yet to be laid. Today, however one of the studies show that capital invested in this sector in 2030 will be around USD490 billion. Compared to a mere USD 86 billion that was invested in 1996.

Increasingly people, entrepreneurs and speculators are looking closely at these assisted living statistics because they see growth beyond just senior care. It is a growth that is also economical.

Today, it is being seen as an industry that needs a lot of attention.

The Benefits

The upside of this changed perception is two-fold. One with people treating it as a full fledged industry there will be an inevitable rise in the standard of service provided. Better services, more organized efforts and consensus will do wonder for this sector. At least that is what the assisted living statistics tell us now.

The other factor is an economic one. A current estimate of target people is about 1.78 million which is projected to double to 3.7 million by 2030. This is significant because with increased demand will be greater spread of these assisted living facilities. In 2002 alone, American Housing Association gave us a figure of 7150 assisted facilities that were home to 500,000 seniors in the United States. That works out at an average of 74 residents per facility. Being labor intensive, just imagine the huge employment potential.

These assisted living statistics also help us understand how much we can expect out of this niche segment in terms of employment. In times of economic uncertainty, those working in the assisted living segment have observed that there were only minor changes to their income and prospects.

In 2003, State Senior's Housing report also put forth a median figure of USD 2050 per month as service fee paid by seniors. This clearly states that there is spending power and so it as an industry is actually waiting to be tapped. What we now need is a better understanding of how to stream line our efforts to optimize economic benefits. It is only right to note that in such a line of work EQ will be as critical as IQ and professional skills. Else the whole concept will collapse if people do not love what they do and use it merely as a stop gap solution.

Imagine an elderly person being pushed around on a daily basis. It would be the end of the industry even before we started making sense of these assisted living statistics.