Language, Literacy and Education
Spanish Language Retention and English Proficiency
Perhaps one of the most common shared characteristics among the diverse Hispanic/Latino elder groups is their affinity for the retention and the use of the Spanish language. Factors that influence English language proficiency are multi-level and can be attributed to immigration or nativity history, cohort effects, education level, economic background, residence and geographic area.
Linguistic Isolation
Limited proficiency in the dominant language and inadequate language support can hinder access to care and contribute to poorer health outcomes (Hall et al., 2022). Access to care can be negatively affected due to language barriers. Hispanic/Latinos who primarily speak Spanish are at an increased risk of lacking a usual source of care.
Limited English proficiency has been reported as a barrier to accessing medical and social services . Use of Spanish by Hispanic/Latino older adults can also serve as a benefit to their quality of life and sense of ethnic identity. The U.S. census uses the term “linguistically isolated” to categorize those living in a household where no person aged 14 or above speaks English very well. According to Zhang et al: “Older Latinos may be particularly vulnerable to linguistic isolation. More than half of the Latinos older than 65 years of age in the United States do not speak English proficiently, and Mexican Americans have the lowest level of English proficiency among major Latino subgroups. The Pew Research estimates that for older Hispanic/Latinos over 65, 47% speak Spanish only, 40% speak both Spanish and English, and 13% speak English only.
Numbers from PEW Research Center report: less than 55% of older Hispanic adults (69+) are proficient in English. Approximately one in two Hispanics have Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Among the older Hispanics, the percentage of non-English speakers is 22%.
According to Zhang et al: “Linguistic isolation, compounded with limited access to health care, may be making the Latino communities disproportionately vulnerable to diseases and associated deaths.”
Literacy Levels
Regardless of literacy level among the Hispanic/Latino caregivers it is critical that any outreach and intervention programs maintain the highest levels vigor in cross-cultural adaptation and translation. (Neidre et al., 2025; Parker et al., 2023).
Education Levels
Education has been long associated with increased income and economic stability. The education levels among the Hispanic/Latino older adult groups vary significantly. Graph below shows that, compared to the other ethnic/racial groups, Hispanic/Latinos have the least number of years of education. However, there are striking differences within the groups. As previously mentioned, the Cuban older adults have achieved the highest level of education (Arguelles & Arguelles, 2006; Hernandez, 1992) compared to the Mexican American and Puerto Rican older adults. Historically, many of the older Cubans were established, well educated professionals when they arrived in the U.S (Arguelles & Arguelles, 2006; Fligstein & Fernandez, 1994). From 2021 US Census Bureau’s, an estimated of 1.3 million Cuban immigrants live in the US. Cuban that arrived between 2017 and 2021 had a higher percentage of college graduates (Wei & Batalova, 2023). Having little or no education can become a barrier for accessing health education information and accessing needed care.
In 2022, about 60% of the older Hispanic population had completed high school as compared to about 93% for non-Hispanic White and about 88% for all older Americans. Additionally, 16% of older Hispanics/Latinos earned a Bachelor’s Degree or higher.
Among all ethnic groups of people aged 65 and older, Hispanics had the lowest levels of education.