One of the lead news stories in the UK today is a report from the Office for National Statistics which highlights the degree to which the population is growing older. Based on current trends, a quarter of the UK’s population will be over 65 by 2032. The fastest growing age group is people over 85.
There are many consequences of this. A fairly obvious one is that the proportion of the population that is in work is falling. Retired people may still be acquiring wealth through investments, but someone still has to do the work on which those investments are based. Perhaps more seriously, while people may be living longer, they are not necessarily able to look after themselves. Dementia, as Terry Pratchett has highlighted, is a very serious problem.
On Sunday I was listening to a podcast that touched on health issues in the UK. Because the company that runs India’s railways is being broken up, the NHS is now probably the largest employer in the world. And health care workers are amongst the poorest paid people in the UK. This sounds very much like a train wreck we are heading into.
More on this story from The Guardian and the BBC. I was particularly struck by the BBC’s map which shows that old people are concentrated in rural areas where, of course, they are harder to look after.
We have the same issue here — and the same set of non-answers. I’m hoping to see/contribute to some new answers with our new administration.
*sigh*
This is something that affects me professionally on a daily basis. As well as the demographic time-bomb in the NHS, there’s a more immediate financial pressure in the social care departments of local councils. For whilst the NHS is supported via income tax, which is (recessions apart) a fairly buoyant tax revenue stream, councils have to fund social care services for the elderly out of council tax. Which, because of the council tax gearing effect, is pretty much the least buoyant possible type of tax there is.