Celebrating a 90th Birthday.

This is a picture of a woman who just celebrated her 990th birthday.  Her husband who is sitting next to her turned 95 back in February.  They have been married about 65 years.

The statistics of anyone living that long is rather interesting.  According to a document released in 2011 by the census bureau indicates that between 1980 and 2010, the number of people in the 90 and over group increased from 720,000 to 1.9 million people or an increase of almost three times.

This group now makes up 4.7 percent of the 65 and older population, up from 2.8 percent in 1980.  It is predicted that this age group will make up 10 percent or 7.6 million of those over 65 by 2050.  The majority of people in this group are women in a ratio of 3 to 1 but they have a higher rate of disabilities than any other group.

Due to the growth in this group, the lower limit of the "Oldest Old" has increased from 85 to 90.  It its noted that 20 percent of the 90 year olds are in nursing homes but the number increases to almost 40 percent for those who are 100 or older.

The couple who are in this picture are released to me and I wondered how many people managed to live this old.  I found the above information in various documents from the Census Bureau.  They offer lesson plans for grades K to 12th for teachers to use in the classroom.  They have a whole set designed to teach students about the 2010 census taken just 9 years ago.

I checked out the lesson plans for grades 9 to 12 dealing with sampling and data.  One lesson discusses the three types of sampling - random, cluster, and systematic - along with examples.  It goes on to talk about finding the average heights of high schoolers between 1940 and 1970 before asking students to design their own sampling activity.

The other activity deals with estimating populations and predicting future growth.  The lesson begins with covering the basics including vocabulary and methodology before getting to the actual activity.  The first activity has students calculate population both numerically and percent for the growth between 1970 and 1990. The last entry is one the student has to find the populations for 1970 and 1990 before doing the calculations.

The second part requires students to calculate the estimated population for each state in 2010 based upon the information from the first activity.  At the end there are questions such as why is the percent increase more than the numerical increase and more.  Questions that require some serious thinking to answer the "why".  This is nice because its important to do more than just calculate increase.  It's important to interpret the results and provide an explanation.

Check back Monday for more on the statistical activities offered by the Census Bureau.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.