The Changing Face of Older American Veterans

Abstract

The demographics of the Veterans in our care are everchanging, we are currently seeing a major shift in our geriatric Veteran population. World War II (WWII) ended in 1945, meaning that the youngest WWII Veterans are no more than 93 years old. There are currently close to 300,000 WWII Veterans and this number is expected to drop to <50,000 by 2024. Conversely, there are currently nearly 1 million Veterans of the Korean Conflict (1950-1953) and nearly 6 million Vietnam Era (1964-1975) Veterans. As the Vietnam Era Veterans age, we are seeing a surge in the number of Veterans aged 75 and older. There are currently less than 4.6 million Veterans in this age group and that number is expected to exceed 5 million by 2023.