ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment 1



Assignment 1

Introduction

In the year, 2000 on 25th January, the surgeon general of United States of America presented a document named as “Healthy People 2010”, a document designed to give a path for improving the status of health of American nationals. The document was launched to meet two primary goals. They were enhancing the quality and extending the number of years up to which the people can stay healthy by removing the disparities in public health for the people of United States of America (US department of health services, 2000). To achieve the goal number two it is required to accept and explore the transition in demographics of the population of United States of America. Besides this it is also required that the policies which have taken part in these type of variations and the opportunities and challenges which are represented by health experts are also needed to be accepted.

The main idea behind the paper is to elaborate the demographic variations that are strongly influencing on the population of Douglas County, Nebraska and to observe their effect on making a culturally feasible health education team. Such kind of demographic shifts contains the overall expansion in population and the rapid growth in population of Hispanics and Latinos in the population of Douglas County, Nebraska. The rapid increment in the amount of residents which are born outside of United States of America and the recent alterations in the immigration policy of United States, the rapid increase in the number non native English speakers, the increment in the number of elder citizens and the increment in number of women in labor, the trends of population among gay, lesbian, transgender persons and the recent increment in the population of disabled individuals give rise to a non uniform demographic distribution. This paper also provides a short description of respective cultural characteristics of each and every major group of ethnicity in the Douglas County, Nebraska. (Luquis R. F. & et al, 2008).

Discussion

Demographic Shifts

Growth of Population

The comparison of demographic population of Douglas County, Nebraska has been carried out in terms of race, gender, origin, age etc. Census gives the detailed demographics and population stats from the year 2010 onwards.

The table below represents a detailed overview of the population of Douglas County Nebraska.

Douglas County, Nebraska - Overview

2010 Census

2000 Census

2000-2010 Change

Counts

Percentages

Counts

Percentages

Change

Percentages

Total Population

517,110

100.00%

463,585

100.00%

53,525

11.55%

 

Population by Race

American Indian and Alaska native alone

3,731

0.72%

2,809

0.61%

922

32.82%

Asian alone

13,755

2.66%

7,944

1.71%

5,811

73.15%

Black or African American alone

60,071

11.62%

53,330

11.50%

6,741

12.64%

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific native alone

394

0.08%

250

0.05%

144

57.60%

Some other race alone

29,645

5.73%

15,760

3.40%

13,885

88.10%

Two or more races

14,489

2.80%

8,175

1.76%

6,314

77.24%

White alone

395,025

76.39%

375,317

80.96%

19,708

5.25%

 

Population by Hispanic or Latino Origin (of any race)

Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin

57,804

11.18%

30,928

6.67%

26,876

86.90%

Persons Not of Hispanic or Latino Origin

459,306

88.82%

432,657

93.33%

26,649

6.16%

 

Population by Gender

Male

254,164

49.15%

226,734

48.91%

27,430

12.10%

Female

262,946

50.85%

236,851

51.09%

26,095

11.02%

 

Population by Age

Persons 0 to 4 years

40,081

7.75%

34,293

7.40%

5,788

16.88%

Persons 5 to 17 years

94,638

18.30%

88,928

19.18%

5,710

6.42%

Persons 18 to 64 years

327,516

63.34%

289,569

62.46%

37,947

13.10%

Persons 65 years and over

54,875

10.61%

50,795

10.96%

4,080

8.03%

Table 1

The newly established multi county public health departments in collaboration with two other departments in Douglas and Lancaster Counties are needed to give the major functionalities of public health. Although, to proceed with such type of functions and key activities, the domestic health departments must have to involve and work with ...