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After reading through the blog, i feel that most people have argued that an ageing poulation is a

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a lot of people are saying that the UK's aging population is an issue, but through some research you will find that it is a rather big issue. there are some positives that the older people in society do bring to the community for one stating the obvious that it is nice to visit your grandparents every once in a while, but it would appear that older people are more inclined to help work in church's and charity shops out on there own accord. it is nice that they are still trying to give back to the community and they are willing to do so. But it is said that in 2008 3.2 people that were able to have there pension were still working, but this is estimated to drop to 2.8 by 2033. A lot of the public's spending money is used to pay pensions in fact 65% of the governments public spending money is used for the elderly people who are over working age. Due to the increase in in aging population the government will have to spend a ridiculous amount on pensions because if we have a rise by maybe one million elderly that would cost the government and the tax payers £10 billion for just each year. If there was a rise in aging population you would be looking at a huge rise in cost for people spending money which could mean that there is a rise on tax to try and make sure the elderly get there pensions. The elderly help our country with our GDP because they also like looking after young children which allows the younger generations to be able to work for longer and so they are able to make more of a living and support there family, they also contribute to local communities by being a major role in the local village councils, this is important so that the older generations are able to keep our strong British heritage.

I have used arguments for and against just to make sure that I have disagreed with someone :)

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/value-for-money-in-public-services/the-ageing-population/

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charlie orbell

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charlie orbe

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Agreeing with most of the other people in the discussion I do think that Britain’s ageing population is a problem as there are multiple disadvantages to this and very few advantages. The projected rise of five and a half million more over 65 year olds is actually an issue which if sorted could save the NHS huge costs as the elderly are more prone to illness. Not only is the NHS having to spends millions a year on treating the elderly but pensions and benefits are another contributor to why Britain’s spending money is so tight as 65% of the department for work and pensions is spent on the over working aged population. Also the fact that as all they are doing to the population is taking pensions and not working and helping the economy again shows that this is a problem however as Ollie has said they do give back a little as they often run charity shops and spend money whilst in their leisure time.

Source: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/value-for-money-in-public-services/the-ageing-population/

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I agree with people that have said negative consequences would occur, but not with a great impact on the rest of the population. It is a large problem but not as large as others because the impacts are less damaging and probably does not deserve this much attention to. Due to the idea that older people are more vulnerable to illness, more healthcare is demanded and is increasing in demand, costing the NHS more for older patients than younger ones. This could be seen as a display of increased mortality rate, and people surviving for longer could prove useful, even if the medical care is expensive. The ageing population doesn't just consist of problems and issues, there are a few positives, like the fact that they can contribute to the economy, with wealth and leisure time from retiring before reaching the 80's. With their existence, they provide jobs for people who need them, especially the younger communities. And it is not like they are fully retired as most do voluntary work and use their earned money from previous jobs on holidays and other activities. sources: bbc.co.uk/news nhs.uk AQA GCSE textbook

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I think that the ageing population in Britain is a problem and will be an even larger problem by 2050. This is due to the amount of people aged over 65 being predicted to reach 19 million by 2050, furthermore it is predicted 8 million of these people will be over 80. As today around £100 billion of benefits is given to those over working age and if we continued as this by 2050 it will have doubled! Also the ratio of people of working age to people over 65 is predicted to fall from 3.7 to 1 in 1999 to 2.1 to 1 in 2040 this could leave the UK with a large worker shortage and severe economic trouble. However despite overwhelming figures in one direction this could be solved by raising the retirement age to allow people to work for longer as they are living for longer.

Sources: parliament.uk, economics help.org

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I think that Britain's ageing population is a problem. This is due to the fact that as the ageing population increases the amount of money that the UK spend towards benefits. Benefits are mainly focused on the elderly with 65% of the department of work and pensions benefit expenditure goes to the elderly. In turn, with every 1 million people in the UK over the working age, an extra 10 billion pounds in expenditure would be needed.

As well as effecting the government, the NHS would be impacted. The average spending for retired household is nearly double that of non- retired households. The Department of Health estimates that the average cost of providing hospital and community health services for a person aged 85 years or more is around three times greater than for a person aged 65 to 74 years.

Overall this ageing population in the UK is down to the advancement in medical care.

Sources- www.parliament.uk

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Britain's increasingly ageing population will have a negative effect on the UK. The most pressing issue will be that of economic nature as Britain's already struggling economy being put under further strain. The elderly possess the majority of the country's wealth, however these people still receive both a pension, which is a legitimate claim, but moreover also receive other benefits such as the winter fuel allowance. However due to the increasing numbers in these age brackets more money is being distributed, often to those who do not need it. The youth are the ones who suffer from this due to an increasingly saturated jobs market, which is partially due to the increasing retirement age, from 65-68 for men, leading to less opportunities for the youth to gain income. This reduction in wealth for the younger generations results in them having less excess money to pay into the pension fund, as essentially the younger generations fund the elderly's pensions, eventually if this trend continues than the government will struggle to fund the pensions due to overall less money to be split between a larger number of people. Overall the youth will suffer due to the crippled economy and jobs market due to the large numbers in higher age brackets.
Sources; The Daily Telegraph, www.gov.uk, www.bbc.co.uk/news

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21stcenturychallenges.org news.bbc.co.uk lgiu.org.uk Reading these accounts, I believe that some people have hoped for too much of the ageing population; an ageing population will be a challenge in Britain's near future and although there may be few benefits, there are many problems that the increase of old people has and will have in the UK. At the moment, there are 4 people working for each pensioner, however due to the 'baby boom' period in the 1960's, the number of pensioners is increasing rapidly, and this ratio has been predicted to fall to 2.5 working people to each retiree by 2035, and fall further to 2 working people per pensioner by 2050. This creates a problem: with less people working and more people reaping benefits of going into retirement, the economy will slowly fall, as more money is being given away than it is made. Also, with the big increase of retirees, Britain's workforce will consequently decrease and some businesses may fail due to the lack of workers. Although some have been arguing that old people may want to keep their jobs after they reach retirement age, I am sure that if you asked the majority of the UK population, they would be happy to retire when they come of age, and we all know about the protests on lowering the age of retirement, which would be inexistent if people wanted to work. Many have also mentioned how the NHS will be affected by the increase of pensioners. With the state that the NHS is currently in, especially in some parts of the UK, an increase of pensioners will do no good. Decreasing health will be inevitable: researchers have predicted that cases of coronary heart disease (just one illness out of many) will increase by 44% by 2031 and hospitals have already stated that they may overcrowd and have encouraged people to stay active; putting stress on preventing illnesses, rather than having to deal with the costs of curing them.

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After reading the many condescending accounts, I agree, with the view of Rob.  The continual aging of Britain’s population from currently 10 million people aged over 65 years old to a 19 million aged over 65 by 2050.

As a result of this aging population, with more people aged over 65, this results in an impact on the NHS, where average spending for retired households is nearly double that for non-retired households. Alongside this the state benefit, and pension system resulting in increasing spending by the government and decreasing income due to less tax income as a result of the aging population.

To summaries, state benefits and the NHS accounted for just under half of government expenditure in 2009/10.  With much of this spending directed at elderly people, their growing number will present challenges for providers of these particular services as well as for the public finances as a whole.

http://www.parliament.uk/

economicshealth.org

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A decent point from Ben, but I'm afraid that only half marks shall be awarded. While it may be true that older people have less creativity than the young, as long as these seemingly sub-par workers are in the correct jobs, then there should not be any direct competition with the young. Older workers have established themselves over many years of hard work, and have subsequently climbed the hierarchy of the working world. Any would-be worker who is young is unlikely to leave university and take up a management post at a multi-million pound a year firm. The young people of Britain will have their chance, and as long as someone who is old is deemed to be performing adequately in their job, then there is no need to force them to retire.

Overall, unemployment rate is currently down at 7.1%, the lowest since 2009, and while youth unemployment has indeed risen by 0.5% this year, there are courses of action which can be taken. Paid work experience for youths can be incorporated so that they may learn under the wing of an experienced worker, and quality apprenticeships prepare the young for the world of work without the need for a mass cull on workers over the age of 65. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nearly-a-million-under25s-still-unemployed-despite-growth-8935723.html

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/10/solving-youth-unemployment-what-europe-can-teach-britain

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Although a lot of people have discussed the drain the over 70's age group has on the economy through health care, I feel it would be good to point out how they would interfere with job prospects for the younger generations (mentioned by Simon earlier). In 2005 Prof. Wu, Cheng, Ip, and McBride-Chang conducted a study to test how creativity declines with age. I understand that we need the knowledge and wisdom of older years for our guidance but in a technologically advancing world innovation is key. They found that creative abilities declined sharply from grade 6 students to university ones. If there is a substantial gap there it can be expected that the over 70's will not be the most creative minds when it comes to work. By increasing retirement age the government is keeping them in work longer and preventing creative minds from being employed and therefore stagnating the growth of new technologies.

http://www.examiner.com/article/does-creativity-decline-as-we-age

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/unemployment-rate

AQA GCSE textbook

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Many of the previous posts have highlighted the negative effects of an ageing population such as increased burden on NHS and family for care, whilst not putting anything into the economy. However I can see some great benefits to the large older population and that they are more of an untapped resource that a burden.

With AgeUK predicting the number of over 65's to rise from 10 million to 16 million by just 2030 the demographic balance of the UK will have shifted as Jack Matthews has rightly pointed out. However many of these older people want to continue working and are still able to continue contribute through work. If we as a country can keep many of the older generation in work then they can not only provide money for themselves (and be less dependent on tax) but also keep their health from deteriorating quickly. The NHS strongly advises people to maintain levels of activity as activity reduces depression, risks of heart attacks, diabetes , obesity and many other health problems, therefore lowering the amount of money needed to be spent on care.

Furthermore, by integrating more older people into the work force with jobs that are matched to their capabilities, the young old social gap would diminish leading to less loneliness and a much greater sense of community. If these social changes could be implemented then the "burden" of old people on society could be much reduced.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/activities-for-the-elderly.aspx

http://www.slideshare.net/age_uk/age-uk-later-life-2012

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/8950/society/impact-ageing-population-economy/

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Many of the previous posts have raised the problems of a rise in health care needs, and the burden on the NHS that the need for care creates. I feel that these economic issues have the possibility of turning into a huge drain on funding, but that we are overlooking the large untapped resource that is the retired population.

With AgeUK predicting the number of over 65's to rise from 10 million to 16 million by just 2030 the demographic balance of the UK will have shifted (see graph at bottom) as Jack Matthews has rightly pointed out. However many of these older people want to continue working and are still able to continue contribute through work. If we as a country can keep many of the older generation in work then they can not only provide money for themselves (and be less dependent on tax) but also keep their health from deteriorating quickly. The NHS strongly advises people to maintain levels of activity as activity reduces depression, risks of heart attacks, diabetes , obesity and many other health problems, therefore lowering the amount of money needed to be spent on care.

Furthermore, by integrating more older people into the work force with jobs that are matched to their capabilities, the young old social gap would diminish leading to less loneliness and a much greater sense of community. If these social changes could be implemented then the "burden" of old people on society could be much reduced.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/activities-for-the-elderly.aspx

http://www.slideshare.net/age_uk/age-uk-later-life-2012

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/8950/society/impact-ageing-population-economy/

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I think that aging population in the UK will end up being a
serious economic and social issue in the future. As the amount of people in
work, compared to the amount of people over working age is falling, then issues
like pension commitments will increase. In 1999 the dependency ratio was 3.7:1
this meant that for every 3.7 working people, there was 1 over 65, but by 2040
this ratio is expected to drop to 2.1:1. This means there will be more pressure
on the working part of the population to provide. I feel that the main reason
that aging population will be an issue in the UK, is the affect on the
economics and politics. As the amount of people requiring a pension increases,
the amount of tax revenue will decrease as more money has to spent on funding
pension schemes, this could eventually cause large amounts of debt to the
government, as they try and provide incomes for the elderly. It is also likely that increased spending will
be needed in areas of public care, such as the NHS because of the increased amount
of elderly people that could require medical help. I think that the growing
elderly population will end up being a huge drain on society, as they have to
be provided for.

Source: http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/8950/society/impact-ageing-population-economy/

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On the contrary to a number of previous points raised, I would firstly disagree with Zach’s use of Japan to demonstrate that an ageing population does not adversely affect an economy. The article referenced highlights that their low spending on education is promoting the economy, however, I would point out that this is an entirely independent and irrelevant point to an ageing population in the UK. The reason being that Japan has a birth rate of 1.4 compared with the UK which is 1.9. This means that education spending, alongside many other points raised in this article, will be inherently different in the two countries and thus the effect on the economy cannot relate solely to ageing population. Secondly, I would question how negative the effects of an ageing population are being made out to be. Despite there being a small time lag as the government takes time to implement an increasing retirement age, as the life expectancy rises, as does the retirement age. This means that the increased welfare payments don’t rise too greatly. The issue of a raised retirement age would initially result in a shortage of jobs as there are more elder people, however, having reached peak child, according to the population pyramid, this effect will level out as the number of people in each age bracket levels out, therefore the increasing number of elderly people will stop. Alongside a growing economy with technological advances somewhat increasing jobs, the impact of such a problem will only get better.

http://www.atretirementsolutions.co.uk/retirement_living_longer.cfm, New scientist

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With over ten million people in the UK in the 65+age bracket, and projections for over 19 million in 2050 (that’s one in every four people!), the problems with the ever-growing elderly population are increasing as well. As Alex has already stated, one seventh of the government’s public expenditure is spent on the older population. This means they are an economic disadvantage to our economy (and the governments public finances), as they do not contribute to the UK’s workforce and generate any money for the government to claim tax on, meaning the money we are spending on the high NHS bills (three times higher for 85 years than 65-74 years) and pensions, is coming out of the governments budgets from other sectors such as education, social services, healthcare and maintaining a sustainable economy and society.

Sources:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/value-for-money-in-public-services/the-ageing-population/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Problems_with_having_an_aging_population_in_an_MEDC?#slide=4

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/24/britain-ageing-population-lords-inquiry

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Continuing my point, this rise employment for people over 65 creates a more experienced work force as generally they are more flexible, have a stronger work ethic and bring a greater experience and maturity with them than their younger counterparts.

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/18/ageing-population-key-to-economic-prosperity

http://ageing-population-conference.co.uk/

AQA Geography Text Book

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Recently, the government has increased the pension age of our population for men from 65-68 and in all probability this will continue to rise. The government has also abolished the statutory retirement age so there is no longer any compulsion for employees to retire at 60.As a result of this the older population are taking up jobs which could be carried out by the younger generations creating an economic struggle for the younger generations who are finding it hard to find work. As the pension age increases the difficulty of finding work for less skilled and qualified younger people will increase as there are fewer jobs available because older people are taking jobs into retirement. However there are advantages of employing older people because of their years of experience in the career which can be taken advantage of and can improve our economy by creating additional projects which increase employment for the younger generations.

Sources:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/value-for-money-in-public-services/the-ageing-population/

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reviewing-the-state-pension-age

http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/4/4/AL09_1_1.pdf

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As Swain already mentioned According to the Care Quality Commision "More than 10 million people are now aged over 65 within the UK, and an estimated 19 million people will be over 65 by 2050." I agree with the majority of the previous posts in that this increase in elderly population will have negative consequences - with healthcare being the main one. The Department of Health has estimated that "a person over the age of 85 years is around three times more expensive to care for than a person between 65 and 75." The money that will need to be spent on caring for this aging population alone is money that the UK currently does not have. After all we are £1.4 trillion in debt. (The guardian) The future of the NHS would therefore be uncertain - perhaps by 2050 there will be no free health care... What if you had to pay every time to see your GP?

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Ageing population in Britain is predicted to have 'enormous health impacts' says the World Health Organisation (WHO). The organisation predicts a big rise in cancers, coronary heart disease, diabetes, dementia and other illnesses related to ageing. This could lead to economic impacts, as the NHS now have to spend more to compensate for the many illnesses that are age related. Debts in excess of 150 million pounds have recently caused the NHS to close down some hospital branches. An ageing population would cause a higher demand for care and hospitals, this demand may not be met, as the NHS would need to spend more money causing more debt.

The ageing population poses great problems, particularly on the healthcare system, which Britain may not be ready for.

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I have to respectively disagree with these posts and believe that an ageing population will not have as many negative impacts as first perceived. This can be seen by the effects of ageing population in Japan seen by this article in the New Scientist (linked below), The conventional view is that shrinking numbers and an ageing population hobble economic growth and are a major financial burden. However as a population age increases and numbers decrease, the country spends less on education and there is more living space, more land per head and a higher quality of life.

Furthermore, although population increase will cause a a greater strain on the NHS as there is a more of a need for healthcare, the goverment can compensate by increasing the retirement age which will also increase the money made from taxes and reduce the amount spent on pensions.

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(Image: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

Is a nation's destiny set by its fertility rates? The announcement that Japan's population fell by almost a quarter of a million in 2013 - the fifth consecutive annual fall - brought warnings that the country may be in terminal decline.

"The stagnation of the lost decades is a symptom of problems brought on by demographic change," wrote Reiko Aoki, an economist at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, last year (Population and Development Review, doi.org/qrc).

Japan has the world's oldest population, with a median age of 46 years, an average lifespan of 84, and a quarter of the population over 65. But this doesn't have to mean a gloomy future. What happens in the coming years might even point the way for other countries.

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Japanese longevity can't compensate for its ultra-low fertility rate - just 1.4 children per woman. Hard-working Japanese society has "embraced voluntary mass childlessness", says Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC. One in four don't have children. Some European countries also have low fertility rates, but top up with migrants. Insular Japan does not.

Lower care bills

The conventional view is that this is bad news&colon; shrinking numbers hobble economic growth and the ageing population is a major financial burden. But Eberstadt says there is another side. The proportion of Japan's population that is dependent on those of working age isn't unusual, he says, it's just that it has almost twice as many over-65s as children. Consequently Japan spends less on education. And because the Japanese are the world's healthiest, care bills are also lower than in other nations.

Japan's economy has been growing slowly for two decades now. But that too is deceptive, says William Cline of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC. Thanks to the falling population, individual income has been rising strongly - outperforming most US citizens'.

With 127 million people, Japan is hardly empty. But fewer people in future will mean it has more living space, more arable land per head, and a higher quality of life, says Eberstadt. Its demands on the planet for food and other resources will also lessen.

Japan isn't alone in demographic contraction&colon; Russia, Romania and Hungary all follow the trend. For many more, it is being delayed by immigration. But the global population bomb is slowly being defused. As Swedish statistician Hans Rosling first noted, the world recently reached "peak child" - the point where the number of children aged 0 to 14 around the globe levels off. Global fertility rates have halved in 40 years - they are now below 2.5 children per woman - and global population may peak soon.

So, far from being a demographic outlier, Japan is "the world leader in demographic change", says Aoki. For some this sounds like a disaster. China last year relaxed its one-child policy fearing that predicted population decline in the 2030s would choke its economic development. But others believe that peak population is a necessary first step to reducing our assault on the planet's life-support systems. In that case, following Japan's example may be just the ticket.
This article will appear in print under the headline "Japan's ageing population points to our global future"

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Japan's ageing population could actually be good news

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Is a nation's destiny set by its fertility rates? The announcement that Japan's population fell by almost a quarter of a million in 2013 - the fifth consecutive annual fall - brought warnings that the country may be in terminal decline.

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The population of the UK is ageing as people are getting older and modern couples are having less children than during eras such as the industrial revolution. There are currently more than 10 million people aged over 65 within the UK and an estimated 19 million people will be over 65 by 2050. The impacts of these projections may be both positive and negative. Currently, state benefits and the NHS accounted for just under half of our government’s expenditure in 2009/2010, with the majority of this focused on older people. Continuing to provide state benefits and pensions at today’s average would mean additional spending of £10 billion a year for every additional one million people over working age. This means that an extra £90 billion will have to be spent to provide for the projected elderly of the future. However, There are now 1 million people in the UK over 65 who are in employment. The figures continue to rise, and went up by 3% in the past quarter, according to statistics from the Office for National Statistics.

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Ageing population is already a current issue and looks set to become even more accute in the future. Even today government spending on the elderly is one-seventh of public expenditure, this makes the welfare of the ageing population a highly prominent and expensive issue today. Indeed as healthcare improves continually with changes to the NHS, people in the UK are likely to live much longer with the expected number of centenarians to rise from 10,000 in 2010 to over 50,000 in 2030. This growth in the uppermost bands of the population pyramid (65+) will lead to inevitable issues, this means there will be a large economic burden on the younger, working tax payers. as the elderly have a high economic cost but a very low economic contribution to the eceonomy. So more of public expenditure will have to be spent on the elderly, which has a detrimental effect on the UK economy. Sources www.parliament.uk, BBC News and the Guardian.

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I think that the ageing population will have a negative impact upon society within the next 20 years. This is mainly due to the growing economic dependency that will be triggered by this especially to do with government spending. This is because as a result of the ageing population it will mean the government will have to provide more healthcare and care homes for the elderly whilst additionally there will be increased spending into pensions for the larger numbers of pensioners. As a result though the older generations will be paying les tax as well so this combination of increased government spending yet no increase in revenue from taxes will cause a damaging impact on the government and our wider economy
Sources: Yahoo answers, aqa geography text book and economicshealth.org

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Mr Gracie - What will be the consequences for the UK in 20 years of our ageing population?

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Mr Gracie - What will be the consequences for the UK in 20 years of our ageing population?

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Post your opinion below. You must include 3 links to resources that support your viewpoint. At least 1 must be something that is in print, ie book, magazine, newspaper. As the discusson develops feel free to respond to what other people have posted.