ABSTRACT
Although there are differences in the political, economic, and cultural circumstances among the USA and other industrialized nations of the world, the many similarities of their circumstances makes useful a continuing consideration of how such foreign countries deal with their aging populations. Especially useful as bases of comparison are those Western European nations which became “old” in the last quarter of the 19th Century, according to United Nations' criteria which describe a country as “old” when its aged represent 7% or more of its total population. In the industrialized nations of Western Europe, the presence of an “old” population prompted the development of approaches to and experience with meeting the needs of older people well before the USA was confronted with similar requirements. As a consequence, knowledge of their historic experiences, as well as their current practices in dealing with an aging population holds the potential to provide instruction for us in me USA.
