"We are going to see a very dramatic change in how society works," he said.

Jones, Stromberg and other aging advocates want lawmakers to begin now to create stopgaps that will ease the stress on society — such as employers offering tax breaks or other incentives for workers to plan for long-term care.

Less than 3 percent of Utah's elderly are in nursing homes, yet the prediction is 50 percent of those people 85 and older will get Alzheimer's disease — a debilitating condition that eventually can require intensive supervision.

Nationally, one half of all baby girls born this year will live to be 100 years old, yet family size is shrinking. Statistics offered by the Division of Aging state that not one country in Europe has enough births to replace the people dying and the United States would be in the same position if not for immigration.

Jones said eventually Utah's population will become like a barbell — an imbalanced one with children on one side and an even larger population of seniors on the other side. In the middle will be the working taxpayer, supporting the costs.

"We have to start preparing for this onslaught now and how we are going to handle this fiscally," she said.

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E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com