Characteristics of Nursing Home Residents

More than 1.3 million Americans lived in the nation's 15,600 nursing homes in 2015–16, according to the National Center for Health Statistics' National Study of Long-Term Care Providers. Despite the aging of the population, the nursing home population is shrinking. There were a larger 1.5 million nursing home residents in 2000 compared to the 1.3 million counted by the latest survey. Here are the characteristics of nursing home residents in 2015–16...

• 65 percent are women
• 84 percent are aged 65 or older, and 65 percent are aged 75 or older
• 75 percent are non-Hispanic White, 14 percent Black, and just 5 percent Hispanic
• 48 percent have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia
• 60 percent need help eating, 87 percent need help transferring in and out of a chair or bed, 89 percent need help toileting, and more than 90 percent need help bathing, dressing, and walking
• 62 percent are dependent on Medicaid to pay their nursing home costs

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Long-Term Care Providers and Services Users in the United States, 2015–2016