I would like to know any and all statistics you can provide about the number
of Americans who will need long term care (assisted living or nursing
homes) in the next 25 years.  Thank you.

< Numbers needing long term care.
1999 ? 5 million
http://www.txinsure.com/new.asp

1997 ? 7 million
2005 ? 9 million
2018 ? 9.9 million
2030 ? 10.8 million (Source: National Academy for an Aging Population).
http://research.aarp.org/health/fs27r_care.pdf

People aged 85 or over are the heaviest users of long term care. The
elderly comprise 13% of the total population, by 2030 they will
comprise 20%.
http://www.uscare.com/whyltc.html

Care and insurance costs.
Cost of a nursing home. 
The average nursing home stay is 2.6 years. The cost of a semi-private
room is $52,000. By 2030 the estimated cost is $190,600.

In 2000, the average cost for assisted living was $25,300, by 2030 it
will be an estimated $109,300.

Home care costs $20,000 and is estimated to be $68,000 by 2030.

Cost of long term care insurance premiums.
Purchasing at age 40 costs $20.05, at age 50 costs $43.06.
http://www.longterm-careinsurance.com/facts.html


By 2029 all 78 million boomers will be aged over 65.
http://www.tribnet.com/news/government/story/4445499p-4431579c.html

By 2030, the census bureau predicts there will be 69 million people
aged over 65. http://research.aarp.org/health/d17317_ats_ex.pdf

By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be a senior citizen.
http://www.longtermcareinsurance.org/

By 2030, 70 million people will be over 65 years.
The number of people over 85 will double to 7 million by 2020.
This report gives details of the healthcare work force and predicts a
shortage of healthcare workers by 2010. By 2050 there will be a 63%
drop in the number of family caregivers.
http://www.academyhealth.org/nhpc/2003/raphael.pdf


According to a report by David Stuart Koitz, social security funds
will be insolvent by 2029.
http://countingcalifornia.cdlib.org/crs/ascii/97-39


According to CNN.com, in 1945, there were 20 workers for every
retiree, now there are three, by 2029 there will be less than 2. By
2029, taxes from workers will fall $700 billion short of paying the
same benefits per person that people get now. Problems will begin in
2011 when boomers start retiring and more will need to be paid out
than is coming in.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9610/03/social.security/

Increases in life expectancy.
The population aged 65 and over will double by 2030.
The average worker pays $3,500 into retirement benefits, the average
retiree draws $11,300 in benefits.
http://www.concordcoalition.org/entitlements/sseligibilityage.html

According to this report from Georgetown University, almost 10 million
Americans need long term care.
http://ltc.georgetown.edu/pdfs/whopays.pdf

Social security and Medicare.
http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:ocUKEnt0ZH8J:www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm%3Findex%3D10%26sequence%3D3+%22need+long+term+care%22+%22+by+2029&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>

<Search strategy:>

<"need long term care" "2029" million>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22need+long+term+care%22+%222029%22+million&btnG=Google+Search>

<"need long term care" " by 2030>
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22need+long+term+care%22+%22+by+2030>


<Hope this helps.>

This was an excellent answer that gave me much-needed help and
information.  Thank you for the links.

The risks of needing Long Term Care are equally high.  Medicare
reports that of people who turn age 65 40% will need some Long Term
Care.  The 1999 National Nursing home study conducted by the CDC
reports nursing home stays as follows.

Less than 3 months                   17.8%
3 Mo. To less than 6 mo.           10.1%
6 mo. To less than 1 year.         14.9%
1 year to less than 3 years         30.1%
3 years to less than 5 years        13.3%
5 years or more                        13.8%
The average length of time since admission is 892.4 days or 2.44 years
Page 16, 1999 National Nursing Home Survey 

This information was found at
www.LTCresearch.com