Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality
There is a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older adults themselves.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
There is a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older adults themselves.
Most Americans have moved to a new community at least once in their lives, although a notable number — nearly four-in-ten — have never left the place in which they were born.
Nearly half of the public would rather live in a different type of community from the one they’re living in now — a sentiment that is most prevalent among city dwellers.
Despite pro-diversity attitudes expressed in a Pew survey, American communities appear to have grown more politically and economically homogenous in recent decades.
Americans feel stuck in their tracks. A majority of survey respondents say that in the past five years, they either haven’t moved forward in life or have fallen backward.
Americans believe that births to unwed women are a big problem for society, and they take a mixed view at best of cohabitation without marriage.
Most Americans are moderately upbeat about their family’s financial prospects in the coming year, with 57% expecting some improvement in their financial situation and another 10% expecting a lot of improvement.
As Americans navigate increasingly crowded lives, the number of things they say they can’t live without has multiplied in the past decade.
More than three quarters of today’s workers expect to work for pay even after they retire. Of those who feel this way, most say it’s because they’ll want to, not because they’ll have to.
That degree of familiarity with — and proximity to — interracial marriage is the latest milestone in what has been a sweeping change in behaviors and attitudes concerning interracial relationships over the past several decades.
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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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