The Aging South East of England

Age Concern has published some fascinating research entitled ‘The Implications of an Ageing Population for the Sustainable Development of the East of England’. This is a comprehensive document that covers areas as diverse as how the aging population impacts the demand for labour and health services through to the likely changes in consumer markets.

When these consequences are defined in local geographic terms they seem far more startling. The projected changes in the composition of the population of the South East region during the next 20 years shows the following changes in age groups.

‘Younger Working-Age’ (16-49) group decrease slightly
‘Older Working Age’ (50-64) group increase by nearly 30%
‘Young Old’ (65-74) group increasing by about 45%
‘Middle Old’ (75-84) group increasing by over 30%
‘Old Old’ (85+) group increasing by almost 40%

I find it very difficult to visualise the enorimity of these changes.

Last week I met one of the report’s authors (David Metz). He has put together an interesting group of people with a wide range of skills who trade as a company called Population Ageing Associates

I suspect that as national and regional government begins to appreciate the size and scope of the changes created by the aging population we will see a lot more of these types of studies.