NYT Examines Plight of Ethnic Elders
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New York Times article on challenges facing ethnic elders, who now make up America's fastest-growing immigrant group.
The New York Times examines the lives of ethnic elders, who now make up America's fastest-growing immigrant group. Since 1990, the number of foreign-born people over 65 has grown from 2.7 million to 4.3 million, or about 11 percent of the country's recently arrived immigrants. Their ranks are expected to swell to 16 million by 2050.
In spite of their increasing numbers, the group faces much isolation in this country:
Many are aging parents of naturalized American citizens, reuniting with their families. Yet experts say that America's ethnic elderly are among the most isolated people in America. Seventy percent of recent older immigrants speak little or no English. Most do not drive. Some studies suggest depression and psychological problems are widespread, the result of language barriers, a lack of social connections and values that sometimes conflict with the dominant American culture, including those of their assimilated children.
Read the full article: Invisible Immigrants, Old and Left With 'Nobody to Talk To'
