Greensboro Plan2Play Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2019

36 - FEBRUARY 2019

An Aging and Diverse Community Today, approximately 20% of Greensboro’s population is 60 years or older. Greensboro’s population is also projected to trend older in the coming decade – between 2010 and 2016, persons 65 years of age and older grew by 7%. At the same time, the millennial generation currently makes up 8.1% of the population and is likely to increase over the next 20 years. Today, these patterns can be traced geographically, as well. For example, areas near Downtown and Greensboro’s many universities are generally younger due to high student populations. The city’s suburban areas, notably the neighborhoods to the northwest, are older. The January 2017 NRPA magazine states that, across the country, the older population is increasing annually, with 69% of working Americans retiring before the age of 65. This is especially true to North Carolina, as the NC Leadership Symposium State of the State shows that North Carolina ranks ninth in the nation in total population, ninth in the nation in population ages 60 and over, and tenth in

the nation in population ages 85 and over. Furthermore, the report states that by the year 2019 there is estimated to be more people 60 and over than under 28 years of age. Additionally, by the year 2025 one in five North Carolinians will be 65 or over. The senior population is diverse and very interested in health and wellness components for recreation. Research conducted by the National Council of Aging (NCOA) in 2015 also shows that older adults who participate in senior centers learn to manage and delay the start of chronic diseases while also exhibiting improvement in their physical, social, spiritual, emotional, and economic well-being. Greensboro is also becoming increasingly diverse – in 2016, just over half of the city’s residents identified as one or more racial categories other than white, reflecting a 6.9% increase since 2000. The Hispanic or Latino population percentage in Greensboro is 7.8%, which has also grown by 3.2% since 2000.