Reflections on the contribution of our ageing population to society
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Dr Janet Melville-Wiseman, Professor of Social Work at Canterbury Christ Church University and Chair of the Joint Universities Social Work Association, challenges negative misconceptions of older people and shares her insights on the valuable contribution they make to society.
We often hear that many of our current challenges stem from the fact that we have an ageing population. Discussions about ageing are frequently characterised by negative perceptions of older people as a single group and that we can all look forward to becoming dependent on expensive care as we navigate our way through the ageing process. These messages are powerful. Some concerns about the proposed Assisted Dying Bill are that vulnerable people will wish to die because they feel they have become a burden to their families or to society. However, examining our best empirical knowledge on these issues may provide a more hopeful view of what lies ahead for all of us surviving into older age.
An ageing population is not a new phenomenon but the reasons for it, and the impact, have changed over time. We can trace how our population has been ageing for at least the last 125 years. We know from the 1901 census that the population then was about half what it is now. This increase has been affected by both birth and death rates over time as well as migration. In 1901, birth rates were high but 14% of children were not expected to live beyond their first birthday. Life expectancy was 45 years for men and 49 years for women and only 5% of the population made it to their 64th birthday. For people born this year (2025) life expectancy is 79 years for men and 83 years for women. However, the percentages of people in our total population under 15 years and over 64 years is now about the same (18%).
It may not be for the faint-hearted, but you can find out how much longer, on average, you’re likely to live based on your current age by checking the official life expectancy data from the ONS.
This useful tool can help empower people to plan how to make their ageing as successful as possible in terms of both their financial and social capital. However, regardless of discrete attitudes to our own individual ageing, stigma and stereotyping in society remain a substantial challenge.
Advances in healthcare and public health are the core reasons why life expectancy has increased – and continues to do so. This should be something to celebrate not fear or regret. Science and advances in equality of opportunity have done their jobs – but perceptions about ageing may not have kept pace.
The net financial benefit of our ageing population has been estimated to be £61 billion annually. This is based on several factors including that over a million people are continuing to work and pay taxes beyond the state retirement age of 66 years. We also know that older people provide high levels of unpaid care, often for their equally old spouses or even older parents. In 2021 there were almost 1.2 million unpaid carers aged 65 years or more in England and Wales. Almost half of those were providing more than 50 hours of care a week. This is at zero financial cost to society – although the personal costs and the toll of such physical and emotional labour may be significant on each carer. Unpaid older carers also provide significant levels of childcare and are more likely than their younger counterparts to work as volunteers in key community and socially vital organisations.
It is also the case that only a small percentage of older people ever need formal care and support or expensive healthcare treatments during the ageing process. Of the 11 million people aged over 65 years today only 314,577 are living in care homes. Of those people over 41% are self-funding. Even with multiple illnesses or diseases, older people are living healthier lives for longer and may only need care towards the very final stages of their lives.
So, it is good news that our population is likely to continue to age for the foreseeable future as the number of us over 65 years will increase by 3.3 million over the next 20 years. For many reasons we need to better cherish our older citizens. They have the most lived experience of life, but against the odds are critical to our collective financial wellbeing.