The objective of human services professionals is to deliver services more effectively and efficiently. It is necessary to have a detail picture of the population and community they serve. Demographic trends can facilitate this process. Demographic trends can reveal development and changes in the human population. Particularly, demographic trends are linked to population’s age, geographical location, gender, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, household income, race, religion and health ("Demographic Trends", April 2014). It is significant for professionals to target populations and to access appropriate demographic data in order to deliver best quality of services.
One of the most important demographic development is the aging in America. This population is expect to double in size within the next 25 years in the United States, this will create an impact on human service delivery (Woodside, & McClam, 2011). According to the article, “The 2030 Problems: Caring for Aging Baby Boomers” professionals will encounter with real challenges of caring for the elderly in 2030. Some of those challenges includes: providing long-term insurance system that are better that the existing ones. Keeping elderly as healthy as possible by taking advantage and advances in medicine and behavioral health. Modifying the way society organizes community services to offer care more accessible. Lastly by making sure all ages are integrated and function as part of the community life (Health Service Research, August. 2002). It is important to have the data on how aging is increasing over time in order for professionals as well as organizations to design specific plans to assist elder individuals on the future.
Community mapping can help demographic trends because in order to serve people within the community, professionals must collect, analyze and have the evidence of the needed services in the community. Through community mapping, communities can build and have knowledge about the service and resources they want and need. Community mapping can be as well geographical mapping. This tool is beneficial for human services agencies because it divides the community into the types of resources available. As professionals collect and analyze community resource they also gain an understanding of the diverse cultures within the community (Transition Planning: Community Mapping As A Tool For Teachers And
