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Profile of County u( Ha au v Older Population of 6.7% when compared with the three other counties, the State of Hawaii or the United States. In addition, the same publication reported that Hawaii County had the highest percentage of people reporting their household did not make a livable wage hence making more people qualify for some form of government help. Old -Age Dependency Ratio The graying of PSA4's population will definitely pose tremendous challenges to health care and social service providers. Likewise, the aging of baby boomers will be of major concern among economists and policy decision makers. Such a concern is rooted in the form of old -age dependency ratio and parent support ratio. In calculating old -age dependency ratio, the crucial matter is whether the number of working individuals will be sufficient to generate a considerable tax base to pay for eldercare supportive services and entitlement benefits for older retirees. Old -age dependency ratio is simply stated as the ratio of retired individuals 65+ to the total number of working individuals 20 to 64 years of age. The old -age dependency ratio for PSA4 in 2000 (.23) ranked second highest to Kauai County (24) and slightly higher than the State of Hawaii (.22) and the nation as a whole (21). In a 1997 State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) publication, it was projected that the dependency ratio for Hawaii's population will likely increase in year 2020 where 33 older individuals 65+ will require 100 working individuals (20-64 years old) to insure continuity of entitlement and supportive benefits to our aging population. The parent support ratio which indicates the potential strain or burden of the old - old on their children (most of whom are still working but approaching old age) is calculated by dividing the number of older adults 85+ by the number of individuals in the 50-64 age group. The emergence of family caregivers is clearly a consequence of this phenomenon. The parent support ratio (8%) for PSA4 is the lowest in comparison to the other counties in the state but like the other PSAs, Hawaii County continues to experience steadfast growth of the old -old age group. DBEDT projected that parent support ratio for Hawaii will increase to 16% by 2020 thus potentially placing the state ahead of the nation in terms of parental support ratio and associated drastic challenges it may bring. On the brighter side, negative consequences may be reduced by continuing improvements in health and functional status of our older residents. Page -7-of11 The old age dependency ratio of P5A4 is .23 and a parent support ratio of 5%.