Almost 25% of the British population will be 65 or over within two decades

The daily mail has recently published an article which distinctly outlines the demographic future of Britain. The findings are explained below.

With the first generation of baby boomers about to turn 65 and official figures published in the Daily Mail showing that by 2031 almost one quarter of the population will be aged 65 or over, it seems that the pressure on our state pension and healthcare services is set to mount.

These shock official figures have brought the impacts of an ever increasing average life expectancy and a long declining birth rate to light. Ros Altmann, a former pensions adviser to Tony Blair has explicitly stated that “Britain’s demographic time bomb is on the verge of exploding.” (Daily Mail)

Whilst in many parts of the country more than half of the population will be over 50 within 20 years, the forecast for West Somerset is even more worrying with half of all people in this region are expected to be over the age of 60 and 41% over 65 by 2031.

This data is no doubt daunting for the already strained NHS services in the West Somerset area. In the current economic climate and in view of the unavoidable public sector cuts, longer NHS waiting lists in the future appear inevitable.

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