The over 50s accounted for £320 billion (47.6%) of UK household expenditure in 2012.

The research, conducted by the Centre for Economic & Business Research (CEBR) suggests that spending by the over 50s helped drag Britain's economy out of its five-year malaise.

Here are some of the headline numbers :

• The over 50s accounted for £320 billion (47.6%) of UK household expenditure in 2012

• Older consumers have become relatively more important since the financial crisis, with expenditure among households of the over 50s making up a growing share of overall UK household expenditure.

• The over 50s account for over half of UK household expenditure on health, recreation and culture, alcoholic beverages, restaurants and hotels.

• Their share of total UK expenditure in the alcohol and tobacco, clothing and footwear, and restaurant and hotel sectors has risen by over 8% in the past decade.

The report has lots of other headlines and is stuffed with nice graphs, like the two above.

Definitely, a report for the library. As if anybody needed any more proof, this is another stream of data from an authoritative source showing the importance of the older consumer. Dick Stroud