Demographic Profile of Senior in Wayne County, Michigan

accounting for just over half the total in Wayne County. While the numbers of Arabs, in
subgroups, for Region 1-A are usually too small to be detailed, the largest numbers come
in for persons choosing the general term of Arab/Arabic, followed by Lebanese.
Another group, often confused with Arabs, is the Chaldean population. These are
Christian Iraqis who identify separately from Muslim Iraqis and other Arabs. Though
concentrated in Macomb and Oakland counties, they do have a presence in Wayne
County – primarily in the City of Detroit, in the 7 Mile area between Woodward Ave. and
John R. Table 7, which provides some detail on their age structure in Region 1-A, shows
a reversal of the pattern that was shown for Arabs, in that a higher share of the State’s
Chaldeans 60+ reside in Wayne County than for the overall Chaldean population. Due to
their small numbers and confidentiality measures imposed by the Census Bureau, no
information exists on Chaldeans living in Wayne County outside the City of Detroit. As
a result, one cannot subtract the PSA 1-A total from the Wayne County total to determine
representation in PSA 1-C.
Table 8. Seniors of Chaldean Ancestry in Wayne County, 2000
Region Total 60+ 65+ 75+ 85+
Michigan 34,408 3,269 2,256 684 166
Wayne County 2,623 352 246 71 28
% of State 7.6 10.8 10.9 10.4 16.9
1-A 1,957 276 208 65 22
1-C na na na na na
Poverty Trends
Wayne County’s share of the State’s elderly in poverty grew slightly between 1979 and
1989, as the increase in Region 1-C’s share, due to increased population, outdistanced the
decrease experienced in Region 1-A (Table 9). This trend reversed itself between 1989
and 1999. While Region 1-C was increasing its overall share, in spite of a decrease in the
total number of seniors, Region 1-A was losing at a rate eight times that of the previous
decade (the State share fell by 0.4 percentage points between 1979 and 1989, as
compared to 3.3 percentage points between 1989 and 1999). . The overall result was a
loss of 2.4 percentage points in State share for the county from 30.9 percent to 28.5
percent.
Table 9. Share of State’s 60+ Population At or Below 100% of Poverty, 1979 – 1999 5
Region 1979 1989 1999
Wayne County 30.5 30.9 28.5
1-A 24.1 23.7 20.4
1-C 6.4 7.2 8.1
5 Due to the fact that the Census Bureau did not use 60 years of age as a cut point for poverty calculations,
the author produced estimates, the methodology of which is included in regional reports.
Demographic Summary for Wayne County 7