The UK has an ageing population. The population grew by 6.5 per cent in the last thirty years or so, from 55.9 million in 1971 to 59.6 million in mid-2003.
Population increases have not occurred at all ages. Whereas the proportion of the population aged 65 and over has increased, the proportion below the age of 16 is less now than thirty years ago. The percentage of people aged 65 and over increased from 13 per cent in mid-1971 to 16 per cent in mid-2003. Over the same period, the percentage of the population under 16 fell from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.
Over the last three decades, the median age rose from 34.1 years in mid-1971 to 38.4 in mid-2003. This ageing is primarily the result of past patterns in the number of births, although declines in mortality rates also contribute.
Continued population ageing is inevitable during the first half of this century, since the number of elderly people will rise as the relatively large numbers of people born after the Second World War, and during the 1960s baby boom, become older. The working age population will also fall in size as the baby boomers move into retirement, as relatively smaller numbers of people have been born since the mid-1970s.
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